“[Trump] calls those who oppose him ‘vermin.’ He talks about the blood of America being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany,” Biden said on Friday.
Biden’s campaign speech, the first of the election year, focused on Trump’s ties to the January 6 US Capitol riot and alleged threats posed to US democracy by the former president.
"Trump's mob wasn't a peaceful protest; it was a violent assault," Biden stressed. "They were insurrectionists, not patriots. They weren't there to uphold the Constitution; they were there to destroy the Constitution."
Leaning into memories of the Capitol riot, which marks its third anniversary on Saturday, Biden further commented that his predecessor is "trying to rewrite the facts" of the shocking day, claiming that Trump is "trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election."
The US president vowed to protect democratic principles in the United States, which he called the “central cause” of his presidency. "Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is what the 2024 election is all about," Biden remarked during the event.
"The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. Our campaign is different."
He later remarked that Trump is gearing for an "all-out war."
In response to Biden's earlier remarks, Trump during a speaking engagement in Iowa described Biden's commentary as "pathetic" and encouraging "fearmongering."
The Friday remarks come in advance of the November presidential election, in which Biden and Trump may again square off as their respective parties’ nominees. Earlier in December, Trump rejected comparisons to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler and called them unwarranted.