President Biden will go on the offensive against former President Donald Trump in the State of the Union speech on Thursday, depicting his predecessor as a threat to democracy bent on “resentment, retribution and revenge.”
In what could be the biggest audience of the year for Mr. Biden, he will contrast his agenda with that of Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me,” Mr. Biden will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House.
While not mentioning Mr. Trump in the excerpt, the rhetoric echoes Mr. Biden’s previous warnings about the threat Mr. Trump poses to America.
Mr. Biden also will tout his efforts to protect abortion rights, while noting that Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court appointments overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a move the former president has bragged about to his base.
Mr. Biden said one of his second-term goals is to codify Roe v. Wade in the Constitution.
The president and his fellow Democrats have invited nearly 30 abortion advocates to the State of the Union to underscore their commitment to abortion rights.
“In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, ‘Women are not without electoral or political power.’ No kidding. Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America,” Mr. Biden will say. “But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024. If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
The president also cast his predecessor and Republicans as allies of the wealthy and large corporations instead of Americans struggling with rising costs. Mr. Biden’s comments are also aimed at reassuring voters who have soured on his handling of the economy.
A Gallup poll released last month showed that only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, which is even less than the 38% of voters who approve of his job performance.
“I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. It doesn’t make the news, but in thousands of cities and towns, the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told,” Mr. Biden will say.
“So let’s tell that story here and now. America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up – not the top down, investing in all of America – in all Americans – to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind,” he will say.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.