President Biden has said Donald Trump and his supporters are trying to destroy American democracy. The President spoke at a fundraising event in New York and told his audience that he would always defend democracy against MAGA Republicans who were banning books, emboldening “hate” groups, and had made America so dangerous that children fear going to school.
Biden was in New York to deliver his speech to the United Nations and afterward spoke at the event where an audience including celebrities paid up to $7,500 for a ticket. The President was introduced by Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller, who said he could rely on the support of the attendees he referred to as “warriors” and “troops” who would “maintain, affirm, and nurture the soul of our democracy and the soul of our nation.”
Members of the 51,000-strong Actors’ Equity Association were in attendance, and as a result, Biden was warned to steer clear of the current actors and writers’ strike in Hollywood because the Actors’ Equity Association is not supporting the strike, and its members are still working.
During his speech, the President controversially described Donald Trump as “bowing down” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who invaded neighboring Ukraine last year. Biden is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, and the United States has provided billions in aid to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s war effort. He also appeared to mock former President Trump when he said he won the 2020 election “convincingly, clearly, without question, by seven million votes.”
While he has focused on his economic record in previous campaign rallies, Biden steered clear of the subject on this occasion. Launching an attack on Trump’s rhetoric, he asked his audience if they had ever heard a President of the United States “speak like that.” He did address his age, however, and implied it is irrelevant because “When this nation was flat on its back, I knew what to do. When democracy was at stake, I knew what to do.”
