President Joe Biden on Friday declared that defending democracy from the extremist forces that fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection three years ago was the nation’s “sacred cause,” one that would be at the heart of his reelection bid.

In what resembled an unofficial campaign kickoff, Biden took square aim at his likely general election opponent, Donald Trump, denouncing his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. Unleashing his strongest language yet against his once and possibly future foe, Biden tore into his predecessor, deeming Trump “despicable” and a danger to the nation he once led.

“Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. It is what the 2024 election is all about,” Biden told a crowd gathered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

“The choice is clear: Donald Trump’s campaign is about him. Not America, not you,” the president continued. “Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.”

The looming rematch between Biden and Trump would present America with an unprecedented stark choice of visions for the future, and the incumbent president set the stakes for the election as a defining moment for the nation. Biden both invoked distant history of George Washington at Valley Forge, as well as the searing images from the U.S. Capitol riot three years ago, to connect the American........

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