• Joe Biden will urge Americans to vote against extremism, as he intensifies his attacks on politicians who support Donald Trump.
• The move reflects a growing sense of urgency about anti-democratic trends in the opposition party.

US President Joe Biden will urge Americans to vote against extremism, as he intensifies his attacks on politicians who support Donald Trump.

The speech in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, is part of Biden’s dramatic shift as the midterm congressional elections approach. According to aides, the move reflects a growing sense of urgency about anti-democratic trends in the opposition party, as well as the need to repel a Republican onslaught in November and build support for his 2024 re-election bid.

After devoting much of his energy in 2022 to high inflation at home and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as two bouts of COVID-19 over the summer, Biden has recently begun attacking Trump-aligned Republicans.

At a fundraiser in Maryland last week, Biden compared “an extreme MAGA philosophy” – an acronym for Trump’s Make America Great Again movement – to “semi-fascism.” Biden called threats against the FBI after a search of Trump’s Florida home “sickening” on Tuesday, the first of three visits in a week to the political battleground state of Pennsylvania. He mocked Republican members of Congress for failing to condemn the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol. He never mentioned Trump by name.

In Philadelphia, Biden will “speak about how the core values of this nation – our standing in the world, our democracy – are at stake,” according to a White House official previewing the speech.

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“He will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

Prior to the speech, Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Biden of ignoring crime and inflation “to disparage hard-working Americans.” Before the president’s speech, he will give a speech in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

A Democratic fundraiser said donors are waiting for the next few months to see if Biden will run for president in 2024. Some believe Biden should step down to make way for new leadership, while others believe he can make a difference.

“If we can pull it off and retain the Senate, then there will be enough voices saying he has earned it and pave the way for reelection,” said a senior Democratic official. “If we don’t, the overwhelming sentiment will be ‘Pass the torch.'”

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