As he leaves the White House on January 20, Joe Biden is worried. The soul of America remains “at stake”, recognizes the President of the United States – who is preparing to deliver his farewell speech to the country – in a message to Americans mixing pride in duty accomplished and a call for vigilance before Donald Trump’s return to power.
“I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. Our very essence was at stake. This is still the case,” notes the outgoing head of state in a letter to his compatriots.
A return of Trump synonymous with humiliation
When he returns to his Republican rival the keys to the White House, which he had taken from him in a hard struggle four years ago, the 82-year-old Democrat will experience a supreme humiliation. In 2019, Joe Biden assured that Donald Trump “would remain in history as a passing aberration”. But it is his presidency which for the moment stands out as an anomaly, or the final hiccup of a bygone era, in a country shaken by violent political, cultural and economic changes.
“The ideal of America is in your hands,” warns Joe Biden in this political testamentary letter, which does not contain the name of Donald Trump. But he mentions it implicitly, recalling that when he came to power in January 2021, the United States was not only in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and an economic crisis, but also confronted with “the worst attack on democracy since the Civil War. Joe Biden was sworn in two weeks after the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, who refused to recognize the defeat of their champion in the presidential election.
“The privilege of my life”
Joe Biden, an unpopular president who has never been able to remove concerns about his age or counter the appeal of Donald Trump’s populist rhetoric, wants to defend his record. “Today our economy is the strongest in the world,” wrote the man who bequeathed to his successor robust growth and very low unemployment. “Inflation continues to fall,” he continues, at the end of a mandate marked by a very sharp rise in the cost of living, which heavily penalized him politically. Joe Biden also emphasizes that violent crime is at its lowest in half a century while Donald Trump described a country ravaged by insecurity. “Serving this country for fifty years has been the privilege of my life,” he concludes.
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In an interview published Wednesday in the Washington PostJill Biden, his wife and unwavering ally in the face of many family tragedies as well as political trials, declares: “I hope that (Americans) will remember Joe as a strong president, full of empathy, integrity and righteousness “. Before adding, as if she didn’t really believe it: “Because righteousness is what matters most, isn’t it? “.
