President Joe Biden launches his 2024 campaign with a speech on Friday, warning of the threat to democracy from Donald Trump, three years after the deadly January 6 US Capitol attack. The 81-year-old will emphasize the fight for democracy as a “sacred cause” in his speech, on the eve of the third anniversary of the Capitol assault. Recent polls show Biden either trailing or neck and neck with Trump, and he will portray his likely Republican rival as a national threat. Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez stated that the threat posed by Trump to American democracy has only grown more dire since 2020. Biden’s speech at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, near the historic US independence war site, is symbolically chosen. The president’s first speeches of 2024 are deliberate, with the first one scheduled near Valley Forge, where George Washington regrouped American forces during the winter of 1777-8.
Trump, who was impeached but acquitted over the January 6 riots, now faces a criminal trial over charges of trying to subvert the 2020 election. He has been barred from standing in presidential primaries in Colorado and Maine, with some Americans still believing that the FBI instigated the attack. Biden’s campaign has been criticized for a slow start and his lagging behind in some polls. His administration faces challenges in the economy, migration issues, and division in his party over foreign policy. Additionally, Biden’s age has been mentioned as a potential vulnerability, as well as his reluctance to mention Trump’s multiple criminal cases. Despite these challenges, the Biden campaign is emphasizing a direct choice between him and Trump, in a bid to secure a second term.