Putting renewed emphasis on what he called the “central issue of my presidency,” President Joe Biden on Thursday issued a dire warning: “There’s something dangerous happening in America right now.” 

“Democracy is still at risk. It's not hyperbole. It's a simple truth,” the president said. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden offered a dire warning about the state of American democracy during a speech in Arizona to celebrate a library set to be built in honor of his friend the late Republican Sen. John McCain 
  • The president argued that former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is a threat to the nation’s beliefs

  • Biden’s focus reflects Trump’s status as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination despite facing four indictments — two of which are related to his attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory 

During a speech in Arizona to celebrate a library set to be built in honor of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, Biden made clear that he believes former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is a threat to the nation’s political system.

“There's an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy — the MAGA movement,” he said. 

Using McCain as an example of a Republican who “who put his country first,” Biden sought to make the case the Republican party today “is driven and intimidated by MAGA Republican extremists.”

“We should all remember, democracies don’t have to die at the end of a rifle,” Biden said. “They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy, when people are willing to give away that which is most precious to them because they feel frustrated, disillusioned, tired, alienated.”

While Biden has previously taken swipes at his predecessor over jobs and the economy without directly naming him, Thursday was different. 

“Trump says the Constitution gave him quote ‘the right to do whatever he wants as president,’ ” Biden said. “I've never even heard a president say that in jest.”

The president pointed to Trump’s recent suggestion that Gen. Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed for allegedly "treasonous" betrayal.

“Although I don’t believe even a majority of Republicans think that, the silence is deafening,” Biden said. He also recalled Trump's previous mocking of those who serve in the American military, quoting Trump as calling “service members 'suckers and losers.' Was John a sucker?” Biden asked, referring to McCain, who famously was tortured during as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.

“Was my son Beau, who lived next to a burn pit for a year and came home and died, was he a sucker for volunteering to serve his country?” Biden said of his son, who died after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer.

The 2024 election is still more than a year away. But Biden’s focus reflects Trump’s status as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination despite facing four indictments — two of which are related to his attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory 

The president’s speech was his fourth in a series of addresses on what he sees as threats to democracy, a topic that is a touchstone for him as he tries to remain in office in the face of low approval ratings and widespread concern from voters about his age. Biden is currently 80, the oldest a president has been in their term.

Biden delivered speeches with similar messages on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and again last year at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. And in November, as voters were casting midterm ballots, Biden again sounded a clarion call to protect democratic institutions.

In a notable split-screen, this one came as Republicans back in Washington held their first impeachment inquiry hearing into the president. 

Biden is hoping that defending democracy — which he focused on ahead of last year’s midterm, where Democrats picked up a seat in the Senate and lost the House by a much smaller margin than expected — will again prove to be an effective message to voters. Election results showed last year's midterm candidates who denied the 2020 election results did not fare well in competitive races, and polling revealed democracy was a highly motivating issue for voters in 2022.

At one point Biden’s remarks were interrupted by a protester asking why he had not declared a climate emergency yet.

“If you shush up, I’ll meet with you immediately after this,” Biden responded before continuing: “Democracy never is easy. As we just demonstrated.” 

It's unclear whether the president met with the heckler.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.