US President Joe Biden, who has resolutely embarked on the campaign for the November legislative elections, attacked Republicans loyal to Donald Trump in all directions on Tuesday during a trip to Pennsylvania, devoted to security issues.
While he says he is “determined to ban assault rifles” in the United States, the 79-year-old Democrat criticized the reluctance of conservatives to regulate guns “because they are afraid of the NRA”, the powerful arms lobby.
“For God’s sake, what good reason is there to have weapons of war outside of a war zone? “, he launched during an energetic speech in the locality of Wilkes-Barre, not far from his hometown of Scranton.
To keep his promise of a federal ban, however, he would have to not only maintain and consolidate his control of the Senate, but also win the House of Representatives, a scenario which for the moment seems unlikely despite a renewed enthusiasm for the Democrats in the polls.
He also criticized Republicans for not voting in favor of increased public investment in community policing.
blood in the street
Joe Biden has also criticized the most radical conservatives, loyal to Donald Trump, for their support for the rioters who invaded the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and for their criticism of the federal police, who are investigating the former president.
“Let me say this to my friends the ‘MAGA Republicans’ in Congress. Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you don’t condemn what happened on January 6,” said the president, who uses the phrase to refer to supporters of the “Make America Great” ideology. Again” or “MAGA” from the former president.
“Which side are you on? You can’t be for the police and for the insurrection”, he launched in front of an audience conquered in advance, from which rose cries of “Welcome home! “.
“You turn on the television and you have a senator and members of the House of Representatives saying, ‘If this or that happens, blood will flow in the streets.’ But where the hell are we? he exclaimed again.
This may have been a reference to comments by Conservative Senator Lindsay Graham, who warned that there would be ‘riots in the streets’ if Donald Trump was prosecuted in an investigation into confidential documents found in his residence from Florida.
While the federal police say they received threats after a search in early August of the residence in question, Joe Biden considered the attacks on the FBI “disgusting”.
“I don’t want to cut the FBI’s budget,” as some conservatives demanded after this operation, the president said.
America’s Soul
He has planned two more trips in the coming days to Pennsylvania, a state where control of the Senate could be decided during the midterm elections, the “midterms” so often calamitous for the party installed in the White House.
His predecessor Donald Trump also planned to go there, in the same town of Wilkes-Barre, next Saturday.
The American president for his part promised Thursday a great speech on the need to save the “soul” of America, in Philadelphia, a city in Pennsylvania considered to be the cradle of the United States.
The state Senate election pits Democrat John Fetterman, a bald colossus invariably dressed in a dark hoodie and shorts, a former mayor of a city battered by deindustrialization, against Republican Mehmet Oz, a doctor-turned-star of the small screen, dubbed by Donald Trump.
Joe Biden also had the warmest words for the Democratic candidate, absent on Tuesday but whom he must meet Monday in Pittsburgh, during a trip in honor of Labor Day.
John “Fetterman is one hell of a guy, a powerful voice for working people. He will be a great senator,” the president said.