A spirited President Joe Biden delivered a fiery, partisan State of the Union tackle on Thursday, match for an election 12 months with enormously excessive stakes in a divided nation.
“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil Conflict have freedom and democracy been beneath assault right here at house as they’re right now,” Biden mentioned early within the speech.
“What makes our second uncommon is that freedom and democracy are beneath assault, each at house and abroad, at the exact same time,” he mentioned.
“Abroad, [President Vladimir] Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos all through Europe and past. If anyone on this room thinks Putin will cease at Ukraine, I guarantee you, he is not going to,” the president mentioned to cheers from Democrats and applause from a smattering of Republicans.
“My message to President Putin is straightforward. We is not going to stroll away. We is not going to bow down. I is not going to bow down,” Biden mentioned.
The president additionally celebrated Sweden’s ascension into NATO earlier within the day, as Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson sat to the left of First Woman Jill Biden in her visitor field.
U.S. first woman Jill Biden sits alongside Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson throughout U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union tackle within the Home Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 7, 2024.
Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Pictures
On home coverage, Biden was much more confrontational than he was on international affairs, repeatedly calling out Republicans and sparring dwell on TV with a number of the loudest voices within the GOP caucus.
As a coterie of conservative Supreme Court docket justices sat simply ft away from him, Biden excoriated them for overturning the reproductive rights enshrined in Roe vs. Wade.
“In its determination to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court docket majority wrote that, ‘ladies are usually not with out … electoral or political energy,'” Biden mentioned.
Then he paused and mentioned to them, “You are about to comprehend simply how a lot.” With that, Democrats within the chamber jumped to their ft and clapped and cheered.
Biden additionally went toe to toe with Republicans over a border safety invoice.
“In November, my staff started critical negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators. The end result was a bipartisan invoice with the hardest set of border safety reforms we have ever seen on this nation,” mentioned Biden.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., yells at U.S. President Joe Biden as he delivers the State of the Union tackle on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 7, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
As Republicans booed the invoice that they agreed to within the Senate, however then sunk within the Home, Biden turned to his left, the place Republican members had been seated.
“Oh, you do not assume so? You do not like that invoice, huh? Darn, that is wonderful,” he mentioned.
“As a result of that bipartisan deal would rent 1,500 extra border safety brokers and officers, 100 extra immigration judges to assist deal with a backload of two million circumstances.”
Time and again, Biden met Republican interruptions and boos in actual time with quips and jabs that appeared to disarm them.
Total, the speech was a transparent, and efficient, effort to convey to the general public and to his get together that he’s a candidate prepared for a combat in November.
