Having already, in effect, won the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden’s keynote speech in Philadelphia could be seen as an address to the nation as a whole. The opportunity to speak to and for the people could hardly have come at a more critical moment.
Mr Biden didn’t hold back. He laid into President Trump’s talent for creating division, and his “narcissism”. The bizarre Trump photo opportunity at St John’s Church, close to the White House, which, as Mr Biden noted, required the use of teargas to move peaceful protesters, was derided as putting power before principle.
Being a Biden speech, it was also stuffed with near self-parodic platitudes – “it’s not about me, it’s about you” – but at least the former vice president didn’t call on the military to intervene.
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