ATLANTA: The US President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigned on Saturday in the critical battleground state of Georgia in what essentially will be the first face-off of the 2024 general election, trading jabs over the border and the economy.
Both candidates accused each other of being a threat to democracy, echoing themes they have repeated for weeks, but Saturday marked the first time this year both were in the same battleground state at the same time. At a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, Trump said the Democrat had “weaponised government”, referencing the raft of court cases he faces, including his handling of classified documents, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Biden took aim at Trump for entertaining Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Florida club in recent days, accusing him of “sucking up to dictators and authoritarian thugs all around the world”. “When he says he wants to be a dictator, I believe him,” Biden said.
There may not be a more hotly contested state than Georgia in the November 5 general election, which swung to Biden in the 2020 election and was central to Trump’s false claims that he was the victim of widespread election fraud. He faces criminal charges in the state over his attempts to interfere with the vote count there.
Trump is expected to clinch his party’s nomination on Tuesday, when Georgia, along with Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state hold nominating contests.
On Thursday, Biden delivered a State of the Union speech laden with criticisms of Trump, accusing him of threatening democracy, kowtowing to Russia and sinking bipartisan immigration reform. The President, however, continues to grapple with a backlash among Democrats for his staunch support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, discontent that could manifest itself in the vote in Georgia on Tuesday.