President Biden announced on Tuesday that he will run for reelection, ending months of speculation over whether he will seek another term.
The first image in an early-morning campaign video posted to Twitter shows scenes from the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters of former President Trump followed by protests outside the Supreme Court against its decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
“Freedom,” Biden says, followed by a montage of images during his first two years as president in which he ticks off a list of his accomplishments. “That’s been the work of my first term: To fight for our Democracy.”
“But around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away,” he then says, accompanied by images again of Jan. 6, Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appearing to embrace and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) during his State of the Union this year in which she yelled “liar” during this speech.
“When I ran for President four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America – and we still are,” Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer.”
“I know what I want the answer to be and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent,” he said.
The video gives a window into what some of Biden’s focus will be on the campaign trail and without a formidable Democratic primary opponent, the president is likely to spend a good chunk of time going after Trump, his top GOP primary opponent like DeSantis and conservative supporters in Congress who stall his agenda.
The Republican National Committee, for it’s part, also wasted no time in responding to Biden’s campaign launch. Less than an hour after the video was posted, Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called Biden “out of touch.”
“Biden is so out-of-touch that after creating crisis after crisis, he thinks he deserves another four years,” McDaniel said. “Republicans are united to beat Biden and Americans are counting down the days until they can send Biden packing.”
