(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . It’s President Biden v Trump, Part II [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-26 President Biden finally announced his long-telegraphed campaign for a second term as president of the United States of America. In his 3-minute video announcement , he outlined the battle lines for what is likely to be a rehashing of his 2020 fight with Donald Trump, saying, “When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer". The video surveys the carnage brought about by the Trump-era Republican party, from the January 6 insurrection, to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federal protections for abortion rights. It is clear that the president understands his mission very clearly: stop Trump, and keep the flickering flame of democracy alive. A February NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believe that Biden is the best chance to win the election. In fact, President Biden’s popularity is at its highest since March 2022, when it seemed as if the president could do nothing right. President Biden is the one man that we trust to stop Trump and win in 2024. Trump will, almost certainly, be the Republican candidate. He is leaving Ron DeSantis in the dust. Only a miracle can save DeSantis, and, as his numbers continue to fall , I would not be surprised if he did not run at all. President Biden’s messaging reflects his understanding that Trump will be his opponent. The entire campaign has trained its sights on Trump. He has drummed home the message that another term for Trump, is a term of norm breaking, chaos, the politics of white resentment, xenophobia, anti-science politics, lashing out at women, rolling back the rights of women and minorities, and all sorts of ugly things. President Biden has long called out “MAGA Republicans” for pushing the Republican party to the far-right. So steeped are Republicans in the MAGA ideology that, in truth, even if Trump was not the Republican candidate, the next likely candidate, DeSantis, is just a more conservative, less interesting version of Trump. There was a time when some believed that Trump’s defeat in 2020 was the final nail in his coffin, but Trump has proved phenomenally resilient, and every time someone writes him off, he just emerges again, stronger than ever. President Biden is not making that mistake. He knows the risks. He knows how deeply embedded the MAGA philosophy is and how successful Trump, MAGA Republicans, and the Federal Society have been in abusing their positions to roll back the rights of women and minorities. Trump and preserving democracy are not enough, though. Polling shows that the most important issue facing Americans is the economy, and that is even more important for them than preserving democracy. If President Biden is to generate the enthusiasm he needs to secure his re-election, he will have to map out a vision for America’s economy. After all, as an old hand in politics, James Carville, once said, “It’s the economy, stupid”. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/26/2166150/-It-s-President-Biden-v-Trump-Part-II Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/