The wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Donald Trump, his age… What to remember from Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech

The American president spoke for more than an hour before Congress on Thursday evening. In the subtitle of this major annual meeting: the presidential election in November.

Republican elected officials have been mocking his alleged physical and mental decline for months. However, during his traditional State of the Union speech, delivered on the night of Thursday March 7 to Friday March 8, Joe Biden let his punches go. Before Congress, he hit hard against Donald Trump, his “predecessor”, which he should face again in November. Against Vladimir Putin, to whom he will not bend “Never”. Eight months before the presidential election, the 81-year-old Democrat appeared to deliver a campaign speech. Here is what we must remember from this speech which lasted More than an hour.

On Donald Trump

During his hour of speech, Joe Biden attacked with rare ferocity the one he is almost guaranteed to face again in the presidential election. He has mentioned Donald Trump 13 times but never named him. He sometimes designated him as his “predecessor”sometimes like “a former Republican president”. He accused him of “submit” to Russia and to implement “hazard” American democracy.

“My predecessor told Putin ‘Do what you want'”, recalled the outgoing president before Congress. That’s a quote, a former president actually said that, submitting to a Russian leader. I think it’s scandalous. It’s dangerous, and it’s unacceptablelaunched the outgoing president. Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have our freedom and democracy been under attack in our country as they are today.”

If he is re-elected in November, Joe Biden promises to embody the“optimism” and the “moral force” against the “bitterness” and the “hate” fueled by Donald Trump.

On his age

Joe Biden responded to criticism on his age which worries some voters. “At my age, some things become clearer than everassured the 81-year-old Democrat, even joking: “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’ve been here a long time.”

The Democrat also spoke about his state of health. “My existence has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the essential values ​​that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. (…) The question to which What our nation faces is not how old we are, but how old our ideas are. Hate, anger, revenge, revenge are among the oldest ideas. But we cannot drive the ‘America with ideas that only take us backwards.’

On the war in Ukraine

Unsurprisingly, Joe Biden spoke at length on the war in Ukraine, and more generally on military support for Ukraine, suspended for several months in the House of Representatives. He urged Congress to pass aid to kyiv for “Stop” Russia in its invasion. “I assure you that Putin will not stop at Ukraine. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we support it and provide it with the weapons it needs to defend itself. (…) History is watching us “.

“My message to President Putin, whom I have known for a long time, is simple: we will not give up. We will not bend. I will not bend.”

Joe Biden, President of the United States

in his State of the Union address

Military aid, he added, “That’s all Ukraine is asking for. It’s not asking for American soldiers”. A discreet allusion to Emmanuel Macron’s comments on the possible deployment of troops which created the controversy.

On the war between Israel and Gaza

The American president once again called for “an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks” in Gaza, which would notably allow “the release of all the hostages” still held in the Gaza Strip. He also spoke, at greater length than he had ever done before, about the suffering of Palestinian civilians. He warned Israel that humanitarian aid “could not be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip”.

Joe Biden has just announced his intention to build a temporary port in the enclave, to allow hundreds of trucks loaded with aid to be transported there by sea. This floating pontoon would be built from American ships, then moved close to the coast, connected to some sort of temporary causeway. “Tonight, I am ordering U.S. armed forces to conduct an emergency mission to establish a temporary port on the coast of Gaza that can accommodate large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter.”he explained.

But, in accordance with Joe Biden’s wish “who wants no American soldiers on the ground in Gaza while the conflict rages”the construction of this infrastructure does not mean that American soldiers will be deployed on the ground. “The main element will be a temporary jetty”, explained an American official to journalists. The port will allow the arrival in the Gaza Strip of the equivalent of the capacity “hundreds of trucks of additional aid every day.” The aid in question will leave from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.

On its economic balance sheet

Joe Biden sang the praises of a thriving American economy, which the whole world “envy”. “I inherited an economy that was on the brink of collapsehe declared, in reference to the Covid-19 pandemic which had brought the world’s largest economy to its knees. Fifteen million jobs have been created in three years, that’s a record. And the unemployment rate is the lowest in fifty years.”

He has advocated for higher corporate taxes and a tax on billionaires. The Democrat also called for an increase in the corporate tax rate and said he wanted to tax billionaires up to 25%. “It’s time to increase the minimum corporate tax to at least 21%, so that all big companies finally start paying their share”.

On the right to abortion

Joe Biden launched a fiery defense of the right to abortion, evoking the “power” women’s elections. “If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe vs. Wade as fundamental law.”assured the president, in reference to the decades-old ruling that the Supreme Court overturned in June 2022.

“Clearly, those who boast of having canceled federal protection of the right to abortion have no idea of ​​the power of women,” he assured. Before addressing the assembly seated before him: “Many of you in this room and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on bodily liberty. My goodness. What other freedom would you take away?”