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Then homing in on Trump, he said the Republican was “bowing down” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He vowed to cheers from Democrats: “I will not bow down.”
Letting the punches fly, Biden never said Trump’s name, instead referring repeatedly to him as “my predecessor, a former Republican president”.
The annual set-piece presidential speech was a unique chance for Biden to pitch his re-election message in front of his closest political allies and foes – and a national TV audience.
At just over an hour long, it was also a high-stakes test of his ability, at 81 and making history as the oldest-ever US president, to think on his feet.
Republicans frequently booed and heckled Biden but he shot back each time, sprinkling a vigorous delivery with jokes that mocked his opponents for everything from planning to cut billionaires’ taxes to refusing to take climate change seriously.
Biden arrived on the floor of the Capitol, crammed with congressional members, Supreme Court justices and government leaders, to extended cheers from supporters and chants of “four more years”.
But in a sign of the multiple challenges facing Biden – including from the Democratic left – protesters against his support for Israel’s war on Hamas tried to block the motorcade from the White House to Congress.
Trump, 77, has a narrow lead over Biden in opinion polls. However, he faces multiple criminal charges linked to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and refusal to give back boxes of top secret documents after grudgingly leaving the White House.
“GREATEST COMEBACK”
In his speech, Biden slammed Republican abortion opponents, saying they have “no clue about the power of women in America”, in what Democrats see as a key vote-winning issue.
And he touted the booming US economy, even if Americans are still unhappy with high prices and polls show many saying their economic fortunes have not improved.
Biden said that “in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told”.
“I inherited an economy that was on the brink,” he said. “Now our economy is literally the envy of the world. Fifteen million new jobs in just three years – a record. Unemployment at 50-year lows.”
The Democrat took on the war in Gaza, which has provoked fury among leftists and the Arab-American community, angered by Biden’s strong support for Israel’s attempt to crush Hamas.
He announced that he has ordered the US military to set up a port on Gaza’s coast to bring in more aid to Palestinians, reflecting the acute political pressure from many in his own party.
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