A day after historians reportedly met with President Joe Biden and pushed him to use more aggressive language around the 2024 election, the president’s reelection campaign released an ad equating supporters of former President Donald Trump to extremists.
During his Wednesday lunch hour, Biden met with a coalition of historians to reportedly discuss how to frame future speeches while talking about the “ongoing threats to democracy,” according to Politico. The Biden campaign released an ad Thursday featuring the president talking about a dangerous “extremist movement” moving throughout the country while flashing photos of groups of people holding Trump flags and attempting to enter the capitol Jan. 6, 2021.
“Now there’s something dangerous happening in America. There’s an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy,” Biden says in the ad while photos of Trump supporters flash. “All of us are being asked right now, what will we do to maintain our democracy?”
New: Biden looks to put Jan. 6 at the center of his re-elect message, making it his Charlottesville of this campaign
To start: Two speeches this next week and this new ad focused on the riot (comes after millions of $ on Bidenomics ads).
https://t.co/tbRr1QdDKH pic.twitter.com/nIAiGsuHdz
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) January 4, 2024
The White House said Wednesday that the president’s discussion with the historians revolved around “the ongoing threats to democracy and democratic institutions both here in America and around the world, as well as the opportunities we face as a nation.” The president plans to give a speech Friday on the Jan. 6 capitol riot anniversary.
The historians reportedly urged the president to “call out the moment for what it is” and to be blunt about what they characterize as threats to the country’s democracy, an individual in the room during the meeting told Politico.
“This is something that he tends to do, especially as we head towards an important day like Jan. 6,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said about the meeting during Wednesday’s press briefing.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a primetime speech at Independence National Historical Park September 1, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. President Biden spoke on “the continued battle for the Soul of the Nation.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Ahead of the 2024 election, Biden’s campaign is planning to play up the Jan. 6, 2021, capitol riot that occurred under Trump to win the votes of Americans, according to Axios. In previous speeches on the anniversary of Jan. 6, Biden has not mentioned the former president. But leading up to the speech, the campaign is being more aggressive towards Trump, Axios reported. (RELATED: Biden Campaign Silent As Trump World Openly Lobs Debate Challenge)
While Biden trails Trump in hypothetical matchups, the president’s campaign plans to use attacks on the former president to help turn the polls around, as 53 percent of voters said they believe he bore a great or good deal of responsibility in enabling the riot, Axios reported.
“We are running a campaign like the fate of our democracy depends on it. Because it does,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, told reporters, according to Axios.