CNN
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President Joe Biden launched a reelection bid like none before it on Tuesday with a call for Americans to choose him again to save democracy – less than three years after his defeat of Donald Trump was supposed to restore normality and unite the country.
Biden’s quest for a second term will unfold amid what would normally be deeply unpromising circumstances, with his approval rating languishing in the low 40s, with the country exhausted by successive crises after pandemic isolation ceded to a battle with soaring inflation. Polls show that a majority of voters – and even a majority of Democrats – don’t want him to run again. And the last thing the country appears to want is a Biden rematch with the 45th president, who’s the current frontrunner in the nascent Republican primary race.
But Trump’s strength inside the GOP forms the core rationale for Biden’s campaign. The incumbent reasons that he’s the best bet Democrats have to prevent his predecessor from winning a second term that would surely be even more wild than the first.
Biden is beginning his final campaign after a lifetime in politics from a familiar position of low expectations. But he’s repeatedly defied conventional political wisdom and connected with swing voters by standing as the antidote to Republican extremism. Paradoxically, even though much of his party seems to wish it had an alternative, Biden appears sufficiently strong to ward off the emergence of any significant primary challengers.
The president ignited his reelection bid with the release of a campaign video on Tuesday – four years to the day after launching what was then seen as a long-shot effort to fulfill a White House dream first kindled by an unsuccessful race for the 1988 Democratic nomination.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” he said in the video, which opened with images of the January 6, 2021, insurrection and abortion rights activists protesting at the US Supreme Court.
Biden’s video made clear that he will run less on his record in office than against Republican “MAGA extremism” which he cast as a grave threat to democracy and abortion rights. The video showed Trump and his possibly most threatening rival in the GOP primary race, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, together, portraying them as twin leaders in Republican radicalism. It also spotlighted far-right Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Biden vowed to continue to fight to secure American democratic and personal freedoms and Social Security retirement benefits.
“That’s been the work of my first term – to fight for our democracy,” Biden said, warning that now was not a time to be complacent.
The Republican National Committee issued its own video in response, portraying a futuristic vision of a world and a nation in chaos in a Biden second term, beset by war, a border crisis, rampant crime and a financial collapse at home. The video ended with the words “Who’s in charge here? It feels like the train is coming off the tracks.”
Amazingly, the same motivation that underwrote Biden’s 2020 White House run – Trump’s threat to US democratic institutions and values – will be the foundation of his reelection bid. Biden, in the shadow boxing of an unannounced 2024 bid, has fulminated against “MAGA extremism” and anchored a surprising Democratic showing in the 2022 midterms on the same theme.
It will be months before the first votes are cast in the Republican primary. And it’s more than 18 months before Americans pick their next president. Events yet to occur in the US and abroad could transform the race. Unexpected turns in the lives and careers of both Biden and Trump – and the handful of other candidates vying for the GOP nomination – could change everything. And recent elections have shown that punditry and polling don’t always capture surprising results.
Yet circumstances are conjuring a unique presidential race that reflects the country’s polarized, unsettled state and will likely again challenge political institutions and American unity.
This is a nation that often leverages elections to empower a new generation. But it’s now contemplating the possibility of a race between an incumbent who would be 86 by the end of his second term and a challenger who would be 82 at the same point. The oldest combined matchup in US presidential history would probably be welcome for Biden since the optics of a match-up against a younger challenger – for instance, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is yet to launch a primary bid – could alter the feel of the race.
In an even more remarkable twist, Trump is seeking to pull off a feat accomplished only once before in US history – by Grover Cleveland, who served non consecutive terms after he won a return to office in 1892.
Trump’s political longevity is another anomaly in 2024.
Presidents defeated after only a single term usually fade into retirement and don’t return to challenge their vanquisher. But Trump is still the most dominant figure in a Republican Party he ripped from its corporate foundations and turned into a populist vessel for conservative culture wars. Even more incredibly, Trump is attempting a return after leaving office in disgrace after being twice impeached for abusing power. He then refused to accept the will of voters in 2020 and incited an insurrection in a bid to cling to power.
Two weeks after Trump’s mob stormed Congress, Biden told Americans in his inaugural address, “We have learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile, at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”
But the fact that Biden is entering his reelection campaign again warning that democracy is under threat reflects the reality of a nation caught in an existential struggle over its institutions and still reeling under the influence of the most turbulent presidency – and ex-presidency – in history.
If anything, Trump’s threat to democracy has only increased – a factor that will play into Biden’s campaign. He is promising to flush out the professional civil service in Washington and to gut the Justice Department, which he claims is subjecting him to a political persecution.
In his first campaign rally in Waco, Texas, last month, Trump warned, “Either the deep state destroys America or we destroy the deep state.”
Vowing to purge “thugs and criminals” in the judicial system, he added, chillingly: “I am your warrior. I am your justice.”
Trump’s anti-democratic rhetoric points to another extraordinary dimension of the 2024 race that Biden is expected to officially join on Tuesday.
The former president’s claims of political persecution are rooted in the multiple legal threats that make his candidacy like none before it. Trump is facing the real threat of criminal charges over his attempts to steal the 2020 election and, separately, over his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
On Monday, Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, said she would announce this summer whether she would charge Trump and associates over their bid to overturn his loss in the Peach State in 2020. Already, Trump has been criminally charged in Manhattan in relation to a hush money payment to an adult film star before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty in New York and maintains he hasn’t done anything wrong in any of the cases against him.
While Trump appears to have seen a short-term political boost from the Manhattan indictment, there is no precedent for a presidential candidate facing multiple and simultaneous criminal investigations, and it is possible that such a scenario could play into the hands of a candidate like DeSantis, who is promising to implement a Trump-style agenda without the unhinged distractions that typically swirl around the ex-president.
At this point, however, no potential GOP rival has managed or dared to weaponize Trump’s legal woes for political gain – a factor that adds to the belief of many Democrats that he’ll win the GOP nomination.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware, in November 2020. The next day, he became President-elect.
AP
Biden carries his sons Beau, left, and Hunter while attending a Democratic convention in Delaware in 1972. At center is his first wife, Neilia, and on the left are future Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt and his wife, Jeanne. Biden, a member of the New Castle County Council, was running for one of Delaware's US Senate seats, and he won that November at the age of 29.
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Biden cuts a cake at his 30th birthday party in November 1972, shortly after winning the Senate election. A few weeks later, Neilia Biden died in a car accident while Christmas shopping. Their baby daughter, Naomi, was also killed in the wreck. The two boys were badly injured, but they survived.
Barry Thumma/AP
Biden speaks with US President Jimmy Carter at a fundraising event in Delaware in 1978. Later that year, Biden was re-elected to the Senate. He kept getting re-elected until he resigned in 2009 and became Barack Obama's vice president.
United States Senate
Biden talks with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after the signing of the Egyptian-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979.
Cynthia Johnson//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
In 1987, Biden entered the 1988 presidential race. But he dropped out three months later following reports of plagiarism and false claims about his academic record.
Bill Ballenberg//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
In February 1988, Biden had surgery to repair an aneurysm in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Here, he sits in his office after returning to work.
Paula Bronstein/ Getty Images
Biden, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, laughs with students as he visits a high school in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2002.
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Biden, second from left, participates in a 2007 presidential debate with other Democratic candidates. With Biden, from left, are John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The Washington Times /Landov
Biden signs his book "Promises to Keep" at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in 2007.
Elise Amendola/AP
Biden takes the vice president oath of office next to his second wife, Jill, in January 2009. Biden had to resign from the Senate, where he had held office since 1973.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Biden and Obama put their arms around each other after Obama's
health care overhaul was passed in March 2009. It was the biggest expansion of health care guarantees in more than four decades, and it represented a significant step toward the goal of universal coverage, which had been sought by every Democratic President since Harry Truman.
The White House/Getty Images
Biden sits with Obama and members of Obama's national security team as they monitor
the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
(Editor's note: The classified document in front of Hillary Clinton was obscured by the White House.)
John Raoux/AP
Biden speaks at the convention of Florida's Democratic Party in October 2011. Biden said he and Obama had made progress on fixing problems they inherited from Republicans, but he said the GOP was using obstructionist tactics to keep the administration from doing more for the economy and middle class.
Amy Sancetta/AP
Biden whistles to get someone's attention as he stands with a high school marching band in Euclid, Ohio, in November 2011.
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Obama and Biden laugh together as they attend a basketball game in July 2012.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Biden speaks on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in September 2012.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Biden talks to some bikers at a Seaman, Ohio, diner in September 2012.
Stacy Bengs/AP
Biden holds a baby during a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in September 2012.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
Biden debates US Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate, in the run-up to the 2012 election.
Matt Rourke/AP
Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One in November 2012.
David Giesbrecht/NBC/Getty Images
Biden makes a cameo in the TV show "Parks and Recreation" in 2012. The show's main character, played by Amy Poehler, touched Biden's face and laughed awkwardly when they met.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Biden listens to Obama speak about gun reform in December 2012. In the wake of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Obama tapped Biden to lead an administration-wide effort against gun violence. But
fierce resistance to new gun legislation thwarted nearly all of the administration's plans.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Biden hands a vote certificate to US Rep. Robert Brady as Congress officially counts the Electoral College votes in January 2013. Obama and Biden were elected to a second term in November 2012.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Biden and his wife, Jill, dance during an inaugural ball in January 2013.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Biden awards the Medal of Valor to William Reynolds, a battalion chief with the Virginia Beach Fire Department, during a ceremony in Washington, DC, in February 2013. Biden presented the award to public safety officers who had exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect others from harm.
Don Ryan/AP
Biden gets ready to pay for an ice cream cone in Portland, Oregon, in October 2014. He was in Portland campaigning for US Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Matt Rourke/AP
Biden tours a dredging barge along the Delaware River in October 2014. During his visit, the vice president discussed the importance of investing in the nation's infrastructure.
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden talks to Stephanie Carter as her husband, Ashton Carter, delivers a speech at the White House in February 2015. Ashton Carter had just been sworn in as the country's new Secretary of Defense, but it was Biden's hands-on whisper
that went viral on social media.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Biden pauses with his family as they enter a visitation for his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, in June 2015. Biden's eldest son
died at the age of 46 after a battle with brain cancer.
Susan Walsh/AP
Biden and Obama share a light moment at the White House, where Obama spoke at a reception honoring Hispanic Heritage Month in October 2015.
Pool/Sipa USA/AP
Biden points at Obama during Obama's final State of the Union address in January 2016.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Biden speaks on stage during the Academy Awards in February 2016. Before introducing Lady Gaga's performance of "Til It Happens to You," Biden encouraged Americans to take action against sexual assault on college campuses. "Let's change the culture," Biden said. "We must, and we can."
Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Pete Souza/The White House
Pete Souza/The White House
Biden
greets Ruth Bonner, a 99-year-old daughter of a young slave who escaped to freedom, as he and his wife attend the September 2016 opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Bloomberg/Getty Images
Biden wipes away tears as Obama
surprises him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2017. "For your faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and for your lifetime of service that will endure through the generations, I'd like to ask the military aide to join us on stage," Obama said in the ceremony. "For my final time as President, I am pleased to award our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom."
Susan Walsh/AP
Biden poses for a photo with a dog named Biden as he greets a crowd on Capitol Hill in March 2017.
Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Biden speaks at a fundraising dinner for New Hampshire Democrats in April 2017. Biden, who advisers said was nowhere near making a decision on whether to run for president in 2020,
addressed the question head-on. "Guys, I'm not running!" he said with a smile, as the audience in the hotel ballroom booed in response.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
Biden tosses his jacket off stage as he begins to speak at a rally in Pittsburgh in April 2019. Days earlier, he announced that
he would be running for president for a third time.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Biden is confronted by US Sen. Kamala Harris during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. Harris
went after Biden over his early-career opposition to federally mandated busing. "I did not oppose busing in America," Biden told Harris. "What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education."
Gabriella Demczuk for CNN
Biden takes a selfie with supporters in Detroit after CNN's Democratic debates in July 2019.
Calla Kessler/The New York Times/Redux Pictures
Biden is questioned about his son Hunter during a campaign stop in New Hampton, Iowa, in December 2019. Biden grew visibly frustrated with the man,
calling him a "damn liar" after the man accused Biden of sending his son to Ukraine "to get a job and work for a gas company, that he had no experience with gas, nothing." Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. He said recently he used "poor judgment" in serving on the board of the company while his father was pushing anti-corruption measures in Ukraine on behalf of the US government, but he added that he didn't do anything improper. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
Brittainy Newman/The New York Times/Redux
Biden speaks with Jacquelyn Brittany, a security guard at The New York Times, in December 2019. Brittany was escorting Biden to a Times editorial board meeting when she said: "I love you. I do. You're like my favorite."
The exchange was aired as part of the Times' TV series "The Weekly," and was circulated on social media. In August 2020,
Brittany gave the first speech officially nominating Biden for president at the Democratic National Convention. "I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time," Brittany said. "When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me. That he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And I knew even when he went into his important meeting, he'd take my story in there with him." Biden
responded on Twitter: "Jacquelyn: Your nomination means the world to me. Thank you — and I hope you know: we love you back."
John Locher/AP
Biden speaks at a caucus-night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in February 2020. He finished a disappointing fourth.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Biden rallied from early setbacks in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada,
winning the South Carolina primary in February 2020. "Just days ago, the press and pundits had declared this candidacy dead," Biden said in his speech to supporters. "Because of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we won big because of you. We are very much alive."
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Biden puts his hands on the shoulders of Pete Buttigieg as Buttigieg
endorses him for president in March 2020. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had just dropped out of the Democratic race.
Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Biden's wife, Jill, blocks a protester who charged the stage during his Super Tuesday speech in Los Angeles in March 2020. The protester was holding a sign that said "Let dairy die."
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Biden and US Sen. Kamala Harris greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a "Get Out the Vote" event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Biden has a
testy exchange about gun rights as he tours a Fiat Chrysler assembly plant in Detroit in March 2020. A man confronted Biden and accused the former vice president of trying to "take away our guns." Biden responded, "You're full of s***" and tried to clarify his policies, saying he supports the Second Amendment.
Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Biden greets US Sen. Bernie Sanders with an elbow bump before the start of
their one-on-one debate in Washington, DC, in March 2020. The two Democrats went with an elbow bump instead of a handshake because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders ended his presidential campaign the following month, clearing Biden's path to the Democratic nomination.
MSNBC
In May 2020, Biden
denied a former aide's claims that he sexually assaulted her 27 years ago. "This never happened," Biden said of Tara Reade's allegation. In an interview with MSNBC, Biden said he did not know why Reade was now making the allegation.
Patrick Semansky/AP
On Memorial Day, the Bidens lay a wreath at the Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
In a CNN interview, Biden called President Donald Trump "an absolute fool" for sharing a tweet that mocked him for wearing a mask.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden touches his face while speaking at a church in Wilmington, Delaware, in June 2020. As he spoke with African-American leaders, Biden
pledged to take steps to combat institutional racism and re-establish a police oversight body at the Justice Department.
Matt Slocum/AP
People are socially distanced from one another as Biden speaks in Darby, Pennsylvania, in June 2020.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden holds handwritten notes that reference US Sen. Kamala Harris in July 2020.
The talking points fueled fresh speculation about Harris' standing as a possible running mate.
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.
Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden joins hands with Harris after the
Democratic National Convention in August 2020. They are joined on stage by Biden's wife, Jill, and Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Biden speaks to supporters from a distance after meeting with labor leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in September 2020. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden has taken
a careful approach to campaigning.
Amr Alfiky/Pool/The New York Times/Getty Images
Biden greets Vice President Mike Pence as they attend a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Biden speaks to reporters before boarding his campaign plane in Duluth, Minnesota, in September 2020.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
People sitting in social-distancing circles are reflected in Biden's sunglasses as he speaks in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Biden is reminded by his wife, Jill, to maintain proper social distancing as he speaks to reporters at an airport in Miami in October 2020.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Biden sits across from ABC News' George Stephanopoulos before the start of his town-hall event in Philadelphia in October 2020. Biden and Trump held
separate town halls instead of debating each other in a town-hall format. The schedule change came about after Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed a virtual debate, but Trump refused to take part and Biden went ahead with plans for his own town hall. Trump's campaign later arranged its own town hall — on a different network, during the same hour.
Julio Cortez/AP
Biden speaks during his debate with Trump in October 2020. Because
their first debate quickly descended into a glorified shouting match, the Commission on Presidential Debates instituted
an unprecedented change this time around: The candidates had their microphones cut off while their opponent responded to the first question of each of the debate's six segments.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Biden delivers remarks in the rain during a drive-in rally in Tampa, Florida, in October 2020.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Biden is joined by his running mate, US Sen. Kamala Harris, after Election Day came and went without a winner. "After a long night of counting, it's clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,"
Biden told supporters at a drive-in rally in Wilmington, Delaware. "I'm not here to declare that we have won. But I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners."
From Dr. Jill Biden/Twitter
Biden's wife, Jill,
tweeted this photo after her husband was projected as the winner of the presidential race. "He will be a President for all of our families," she said.
Gabriella Demczuk for CNN
Biden gives his first speech as president-elect, addressing supporters at a drive-in event in Wilmington, Delaware. "Tonight the whole world is watching America, and I believe that at our best, America is a beacon for the globe," Biden said in his speech. "We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example."
Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Biden introduces the men and women
he was nominating to join his national security and foreign policy team. "It's a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure," Biden said. "And it's a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it."
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Biden, center, waves after speaking at a campaign rally in Atlanta for US Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, second from left, and Jon Ossoff, second from right, in December 2020. Both candidates won their runoff races, giving Democrats control of the Senate.
Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images
Biden receives a Covid-19 vaccination in Newark, Delaware, in December 2020.
Susan Walsh/AP
Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware,
after the US Capitol was breached in January 2021. Biden was planning to deliver a speech on the economy, but he scrapped his speech and instead addressed the chaos and violence in Washington, DC. He said the rioting amounted to an "unprecedented assault" on US democracy. "This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos," he said. "It borders on sedition, and it must end now."
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden tears up in New Castle, Delaware, as he speaks about his late son Beau before heading to Washington, DC, for his inauguration. Biden said he was proud to be delivering his send-off remarks from the National Guard Center in New Castle, which is named after Beau Biden. "I only have one regret: that he's not here, because we should be introducing him as president," Biden said.
Chang W. Lee/Pool/The New York Times/AP
Erin Schaff/Pool/The New York Times/AP
Biden is sworn in as president by Chief Justice John Roberts as his wife holds the Bible. Biden's children Ashley and Hunter are on the right. "Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation," Biden said in his inaugural address.
Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/AP
Biden signs three documents after his swearing-in ceremony: his inauguration day proclamation, his nominations for the Cabinet and his nominations for sub-Cabinet positions.
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden arrives at the White House for the first time as president.
Adam Schultz/The White House
Biden poses with his dogs, Champ and Major, in the Oval Office in February 2021. The German shepherds marked a return to a
longstanding tradition of Presidents and their families bringing their pets with them to the White House.
Champ died in June 2021 at the age of 13.
Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images
Biden speaks from the White House Treaty Room in April 2021 as he announced his decision to
withdraw American troops from Afghanistan before September 11. "I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," Biden said. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth."
Melina Mara/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Biden addresses a joint session of Congress in April 2021. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, only a limited number of lawmakers were in the House chamber.
Biden's speech focused on the administration's accomplishments thus far and unveiled key components of his next legislative push.
Adam Schultz/The White House
Denis Balibouse/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
A security officer asks the media to step back at the start of
a summit between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2021. Seated from left are US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden, Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The summit, held in Geneva, Switzerland, was the first meeting of Biden and Putin since Biden was elected President.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
The Bidens visit a memorial near the partially collapsed building in Surfside, Florida, in July 2021.
Biden traveled to Surfside to console families still waiting on news of their loved ones. Their meetings were closed to the press.
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden pauses as he listens to a question about
a suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed Afghan civilians and US service members in August 2021. The terror group ISIS-K, which rivals the Taliban in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the bombing. "We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," he said.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi depart following a meeting with the House Democratic Caucus in October 2021. Biden was at the Capitol to
lay out the framework of his economic plan and make his case for it.
Vatican Pool/Getty Images
Biden gives Pope Francis a challenge coin during
his trip to the Vatican in October 2021. Between them is Italian translator Elisabetta Savigni Ullmann. It was the fourth meeting between Francis and Biden, but their first since Biden became President. Biden, a devout lifelong Catholic, met with the Pope for 90 minutes and said he discussed "a lot of personal things" with the pontiff.
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden signs a
bipartisan infrastructure bill into law during a White House ceremony in November 2021. The $1.2 trillion legislation focuses on infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
President Joe Biden speaks from the Capitol in January 2022 to mark the one-year anniversary of the
Capitol riot. In his remarks,
Biden forcefully called out former President Donald Trump for attempting to undo American democracy. "For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob reached the Capitol," Biden said. "But they failed. They failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again."
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
Biden addresses the National League of Cities' Congressional City Conference in March 2022.
Joshua Roberts/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Biden hands West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin the pen used to sign the
Inflation Reduction Act at the White House in August 2022. Also pictured from left are Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn, New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone and Florida Rep. Kathy Castor.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Biden and former President Barack Obama attend a campaign event for Democratic senatorial candidate John Fetterman and Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro in November 2022. Fetterman went on to
defeat opponent Mehmet Oz in one of the most closely-watched races of the midterms.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden greets Border Patrol agents near the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas, in January 2023. He was making his first visit to the southern border as president.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
US Sen. Raphael Warnock, the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, greets Biden during a worship service in Atlanta in January 2023. It was on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. King was co-pastor of the church from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. Biden became the first sitting president to deliver a Sunday sermon from the historic church.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden, seen through a window, delivers his first-ever address from the White House Oval Office on June 2, 2023. He declared bipartisanship alive and well as he
pointed to the compromise measure that raised the federal borrowing limit and avoided a catastrophic default.
Susan Walsh/AP
Biden reviews royal guards in front of Britain's King Charles III during a
welcoming ceremony in Windsor, England, on July 10, 2023. It was Biden's second trip to Windsor Castle since taking office.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, speaks as Biden, center, joins
striking union members on the picket line in Belleville, Michigan. Biden made history by being the first sitting president to join a picket line.
Kenny Holston/The New York Times/Redux
Biden, center right, is greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after arriving at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. Biden capped his trip by
sending an emphatic message of support to Israel, promising new aid to Netanyahu's government as it prepared fresh action against Hamas.
Biden defined his 2020 campaign, his presidency and the build-up to his reelection bid by who he is not – Trump. He often quips when talking about his political campaigns, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.” But this will not be sufficient as he seeks a second term. Biden will have to defend his presidency and convince voters that they are better off than when he took over amid the political fire and fury of Trump’s exit.
He will never escape questions over his age. Any signs of unsteadiness or tiredness will prompt Republicans to argue he should be retired. Serving as president while running for president has defeated younger men. And this race figures to be more grueling than the last one he ran, when the Covid-19 pandemic all but suspended normal campaigning.
But Biden’s faith in the power of comparisons could help him. Trump, after all, would turn 80 during a second term. And the president will argue Americans can’t afford the chaos that reigned the last time Trump was in the White House. He can point to a huge bipartisan infrastructure bill that the White House says is triggering an industrial rebirth in the Midwest. Unemployment has been consistently near record lows while Biden has been in office, although the highest inflation in 40 years – which has now significantly moderated but which the president downplayed – convinced many Americans that they were locked in a prolonged economic crisis. High gas prices last year had a similar effect. And any downturn next year could be disastrous for the president’s hopes and play into Trump’s selective claims that the country experienced a golden age when he was in charge.
As Biden claims to have defended democracy at home, he is also sure to compare his revival of the Western alliance in defense of Ukraine to Trump’s continuing hero worship of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Democrats will also seek to exploit the overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion by a conservative Supreme Court majority built by Trump and the continuing conservative drive to eradicate the procedure entirely. Concern among some moderate Republicans suggests that Biden may find a rich political seam on the issue, which has already galvanized voters in elections since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer.
Ultimately, the president knows his fate will come down to the same swing states that put him in office with narrow margins – including Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania. Democrats will put their faith in the evidence of the last three national elections, which showed the ex-president was disastrous for GOP hopes in many of the most competitive states.
So while Biden will have to run on his record like any other incumbent, he’s sure to anchor his campaign around Trump.
In a speech in Maryland this month, Biden mentioned MAGA – his pejorative code word for Trump Republicans – more than 20 times.
It was a clear sign. Even if Trump isn’t the Republican nominee, Biden still plans to run against him.