In a new campaign video released after President Joe Biden formally announced his re-election bid, former President Donald Trump accused Biden of a litany of failures, from opening the US border with Mexico to leading the world “to the brink of World War III.”
Biden formally entered the 2024 race on Tuesday, saying in a campaign video that he needs four more years to “finish the job” and restore “the soul of America.” Within hours, Trump issued a response.
“You could take the five worst presidents in American history and put them together and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our nation,” Trump declared.
The former president cited the “worst inflation in half a century,” a 24-month streak of declining real wages, and rising gasoline prices, homelessness and crime as examples of Biden’s “calamitous and failed presidency.”
Trump accused Biden of “weaponizing” law enforcement to punish his supporters, and claimed that the president’s deference to transgender activists has led to children being “indoctrinated and mutilated by left-wing freaks and zealots.”
Trump has hammered Biden on these issues before, and on matters of foreign policy, his latest video contained no surprises either. Declaring that “Russia is teaming up with China, Iran is days away from a nuclear bomb, [and] Ukraine has been devastated by an invasion that would never ever have happened if I was president,” Trump proclaimed that Biden “has led us to the very brink of World War III.”
“It is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for re-election,” Trump said in conclusion. “There has never been a greater contrast between two successive administrations in all of American history; ours being greatness and theirs being failure.”
While the US economy was in better shape under Trump and the world was relatively more peaceful, it is unclear whether the former president will be able to translate his record into votes. Most recent polls put Trump narrowly ahead of Biden, but an NBC News survey published on Sunday found that most Americans want neither candidate to run in 2024.
As the incumbent candidate, Biden can count on the support of the Democratic Party’s establishment, including former President Barack Obama, who endorsed his ex-vice president on Tuesday. Trump faces a potential primary challenge from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and although DeSantis has not yet announced his candidacy, some polls show the governor outperforming Trump.