Joe Biden has warned that Donald Trump will attempt to “steal” the midterm elections, in a rare public address delivered in South Carolina on Friday. The former president said the US is experiencing “dark days” and urged Americans to vote, reprising his 2020 campaign theme about the “battle for the soul of this nation”.
Speaking at the Columbia Museum of Art, Biden criticised Trump’s plan to introduce potentially prohibitive voting requirements ahead of the midterms. “He’s trying to steal the election, because he knows he can’t win your vote, so he’s going to do everything he can to prevent you from wanting to vote,” Biden said.
Biden, 83, has largely stayed out of the public eye since leaving office and undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He did not address his health on Friday, but instead attacked Trump over the recent State of the Union address and the immigration crackdown in which federal agents killed US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January.
Biden also noted that Trump did not offer a word of solace to the families of the victims, nor any recognition of those affected by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who reportedly killed himself while in federal custody in 2019. The speech came as Trump’s approval rating remains at a historic low, with polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of his performance.
Biden abandoned his 2024 re-election campaign after a disastrous debate performance in June of that year, endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris, who was ultimately defeated by Trump in the general election.
