The not-so-subtle digs in Biden’s 2024 announcement

Joe Biden wants to make ‘MAGA Republicans’ his campaign opponent and paint them as enemies of freedom

Biden (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Joe Biden has officially jumped into the 2024 presidential race to seek a second term. The announcement comes as the president faces low approval ratings, with Mr Biden largely refraining from talking about his legislative accomplishments. While unemployment is low, inflation remains a top concern for many, even as it is not sky-high as it was during 2021 or even 2022.

Similarly, the president, who would turn 82 on the day he would be sworn in for a second term, removed any doubt as to whether he would replace Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate by heavily featuring her in his announcement video, despite numerous reports that he has been unsatisfied with her performance.

But one theme ran consistent throughout his 2024 launch: That his party is the party of freedom while the Republican Party poses a threat to personal liberty. Republicans commonly sell themselves as the party of “freedom” and many political action committees, outside groups and conferences use some variation of the word.

“The question we’re facing is whether in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom,” he said in the video. “More rights or fewer.”

Indeed, in his campaign video opened with an image of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol wherein supporters of former president Donald Trump tried to halt the certification of Mr Biden’s election.

Notably, Mr Biden did not include House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with whom he still has to negotiate for at least the next two years, or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who despite coming from another party, the president has held up as someone whom he likes and works well with. Indeed, Mr Biden has frequently been able to find common ground with both congressional leaders and successfully used the argument that compromise in Washington is not dead to bolster his 2020 campaign when his Democratic primary challengers often rejected the idea.

Rather, he contrasted his ideals with images of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene as well as former president Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as he might be running against one of the latter two next year.

As a result, Mr Biden centered Republican proposals to cut Social Security, a Democratic campaign staple for which Republican Senator Rick Scott gave him ample ammunition last year; cutting taxes for the ultra wealthy - another standard piece of Democratic fare; as well as talking about Republican attempts to ban books and restricting abortion (though, notably, Mr Biden did not use the actual word, but instead saying “dictating what health care decisions women can make”).

Mr Biden contrasted those ideals with his own argument “that we’re a nation that gives hate no safe harbour” and that “everyone is equal.” Similarly, he featured Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, so far his sole appointment to the Supreme Court, as a likely display of the types of justices he would nominate were he given a second term in contrast to the justices Mr Trump nominated who facilitated the overturning of Roe v Wade, which led to trust the court to nosedive.

Of course, it is unclear whether this will be a compelling argument in the 2024 presidential election. While the 2022 midterm had high Democratic turnout that staved off a red wave, many voters could still vote with their wallets.

Mr Biden largely won his first term in 2020 because people wanted to halt chaos of the Trump presidency. But judging by Mr Biden’s new ad, he will make the case, perhaps one that he learned himself, that simply ridding Mr Trump from the Oval Office does not mean that he does not pose a threat to freedoms many Americans enjoy.