Biden takes the fight to his predecessor and the MAGA crowd / X/ @POTUS

Maintaining that resentment, revenge and retribution are not a part of his vocabulary, President Joe Biden used his third State of the Union address to tear into the 45^th President and the Grand Old Party effectively firing the first shot in the Presidential elections of November 5. Not once calling out Donald Trump by name but referring as his “predecessor” as many as 13 times, Biden appeared to stress, not what he has achieved in the last three plus years in office, but what was in store for America should Trump return to the Oval Office.

The events in the aftermath of the 2020 election were billed as the “gravest threat to democracy” since the Civil War by Biden. “My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6”, the President in a reference to the attack on Capitol Hill, hammering away at the notion “only love your country when you win”.

Pointedly, Biden opened his address to a joint sitting of Congress reflecting on the message Franklin Roosevelt gave in 1941. “In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation. He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.” Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe. President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment”, Biden said.

“Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. Tonight, I come to the same chamber to address the nation. Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either” he continued.

Heckling and jeering a President during his address is not unusual; Biden took it in stride and seemed to take great joy in taking on the challenge, perhaps to allay fears of his age and mindset that public opinion polls have been saying repeatedly.

Foreign policy hardly takes major importance in a SOTU (State of the Union) message as Presidents are anxious to go through a laundry list of their accomplishments. For Biden this could be his last should he lose in the November 5 election. The President did mention his achievements over the years, but also sought to assure allies overseas of American pre-eminence in foreign policy.

In my career, I’ve been told I’m too young, and I’m too old.

But I’ve seen what endures.

The very idea of America that we are all created equal. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never fully walked away from it either.

And I won’t walk away from it now. pic.twitter.com/583zZuBe65

— President Biden (@POTUS) March 8, 2024

Just as how “my predecessor” failed on Covid, dealing with China and gun violence, Biden forcefully argued that Russia under Putin cannot get away with what it wants. “…Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.” A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable… My message to Putin is simple. We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down”, Biden said.

The Democratic incumbent who has been taking a huge hit as a result of the Middle East argued that while Israel has a right to after the Hamas, it also has an added burden because the terrorist outfit hides and operates among the civilian population, and hence the added responsibility of protecting the innocents.

Biden assured his domestic audience that while no U.S. boots will be on the ground, there will be a massive infusion of humanitarian assistance to Gaza including in the construction of a temporary pier on the Mediterranean. Tel Aviv must also “do its part” as humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. “Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority… the only real solution is a two- state solution”, Biden maintained.

More than the immediate reactions from the Conservatives, including the right wing and extremists, Biden appears to have held his ground and at times even vigorously challenging the GOP and Trump to send an immigration bill to his desk for signature instead of sitting at the sidelines sneering or even deliberately working to undo progress.

If optimism for American was how Biden ended his hour long-plus address, Trump took to social media to ridicule the speech. "That may be the Angriest, Least Compassionate, and Worst State of the Union Speech ever made. It was an Embarrassment to our Country," he said.