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On Thursday, Former Vice President Joe Biden has announced his bid for Presidency in 2020 and he’s done it by directing targeting Donald Trump and what he believes is a decline in the nation’s democracy.
“The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America, America, is at stake,” Biden said in the video. “That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.”
—John William King executed by lethal injection for brutal killing of James Byrd Jr.—
Biden said he’s running to take back the “soul of this nation” which is at stake if Trump wins another four years, he said in his campaign video.
“We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden said. “If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”
Biden took issue with the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and the fact that Trump took sides with racists when he called Neo-Nazis “very fine people”.
“He said there were quote some very fine people on both sides,” Biden said. “With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.”
Earlier this year Biden launched a political action committee and he previously told InStyle magazine that “this moment in American history sort of fits into my wheelhouse and the strengths I have.” He cited his experience with diplomacy, his personal authenticity and his willingness to work with both parties.
APNews reports that Biden will join Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in leading the polls. So far, in the Democratic field, Biden’s experience goes unmatched plus he is one of the most well-known faces among U.S. politicians.
While the ex-vice president has already started receiving endorsements he has a big field in which to compete which currently has at least 20 Democrats.
The AP points out that he needs to make clear his positions on the issues defining the 2020 Democratic primary including “Medicare for All,” something that many already in the Democratic field have adopted.
As much as Biden has supporters there are also those who are less supportive of his run. Most notably so far has been the President whom the AP reports has been told by his allies may be Trump’s fiercest competition in 2020.
Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty – you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2019
Biden plans on officially hitting the trail starting with Philadelphia on Thursday evening where he will headline a fundraiser at the home of David L. Cohen, executive senior vice president of Comcast.
He will visit his native Pennsylvania three times in the first weeks of his campaign, a state that went to Trump in 2016 after voting for Democratic presidential candidates for decades.