In Searing Speech, Biden Warns 'Your Freedom Is on the Ballot'

President Joe Biden on Friday delivered a ferocious condemnation of Donald Trump, his likely 2024 opponent, warning in searing language that the former president had directed an insurrection and would aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returns to power.

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump’s supporters, Biden framed the 2024 election as a choice between a candidate devoted to upholding America’s centuries-old ideals and a chaos agent willing to discard them for his personal benefit.

“We must be clear,” Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.”

The 31-minute speech in Pennsylvania was Biden’s first public campaign event since he announced in April that he would seek reelection and was by far his most forceful denunciation of Trump since it became evident the two men were likely to face off again in 2024.

In the intensely personal speech — at one point Biden nearly cursed Trump by name — the president compared his rival to foreign autocrats who rule by fiat and lies. He said Trump had failed the basic test of American leaders, to trust the people to choose their elected officials and abide by their decisions.

“There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do,” Biden warned, exhorting supporters to prepare to vote this fall. “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question is: Who are we?”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .