President Biden strode to the podium in front of Independence Hall, flanked by Marines and bathed in a stark red light, 67 days before the midterm elections that could break his party’s control of government. His self-appointed task in this primetime address was to sound the call for the “battle for the soul of this nation.”

In front of 300 invited guests, with bullhorn-wielding protesters bellowing “Let’s go Brandon” just audible in the background, the president asserted that “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” This, he noted, “is not normal.”

Mr. Biden contrasted the building behind him where “the United States Constitution was written and debated” with his assertion that “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people.” He qualified the targets of his ire by noting that “not every Republican — not even a majority of Republicans — are MAGA Republicans.”  

Mr. Biden, in a veiled allusion to his predecessor and potential future challenger, intoned that “history tells us a blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.” He urged Americans to be “honest with each other and ourselves: Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal.” 

To that end, Mr. Biden launched a rhetorical offensive against those “MAGA Republicans.” Referencing recent Supreme Court decisions that dealt defeat to progressive priorities even as it appears to have galvanized their voters, the president warned of an “America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”

Addressing the continuing divide over the 2020 election, even as he at times seemed to be gesturing toward a 2024 rematch — Mr. Trump on Monday called for “a new Election, immediately” —  Mr. Biden warned that “Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated.” 

These are “hard things” to confront, he acknowledged, but he contrasted his own “duty to level with you” and “defend our democracy with every fiber of my being” with the “insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy” and “promote authoritarian leaders.” 

On the same day that Mr. Trump offered “full pardons” and an “apology” to January 6 rioters, Mr. Biden asserted that there is “no question the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to democracy.” He quipped that you can’t be “pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. They’re incompatible.”

Echoing President Trump’s inaugural speech, which invoked the specter of “American carnage,” Mr. Biden claimed that “MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies –- lies told for profit and power.” 

Mr. Biden took time from his jeremiad to promise, “We’re going to end cancer as we know it” and, “We are going to create millions of new jobs in a clean energy economy.” He also defended his administration’s handling of Covid and the economy, and promised to build “a nation where no one is left behind.”