President Joe Biden launched a scorching attack on his "dangerous" November presidential election rival Donald Trump in Thursday's State of the Union address, warning that US democracy is under "assault."
In the dramatic start to the speech, Biden said he wanted to "wake up the Congress and alert the American people" to the danger.
"Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War, have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today," he said. "What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack at both at home and overseas."
Then homing in on Trump, he said the Republican was "bowing down" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He vowed to cheers from Democrats: "I will not bow down."
Letting the punches fly, Biden never said Trump's name, instead referring repeatedly to him as "my predecessor, a former Republican president."
The annual set-piece presidential speech was a unique chance for Biden to pitch his reelection message in front of his closest political allies and foes -- and a national TV audience.
At just over an hour long, it was also a high-stakes test of his ability, at 81 and making history as the oldest ever US president, to think on his feet.
Republicans frequently booed and heckled Biden but he shot back each time, sprinkling a vigorous delivery with jokes that mocked his opponents for everything from planning to cut billionaires' taxes to refusing to take climate change seriously.
Biden arrived on the floor of the Capitol, crammed with congressional members, Supreme Court justices and government leaders, to extended cheers from supporters and chants of "four more years."
But in a sign of the multiple challenges facing Biden -- including from the Democratic left -- protesters against his support for Israel's war on Hamas tried to block the motorcade from the White House to Congress.
Trump, 77, has a narrow lead over Biden in opinion polls. However, he faces multiple criminal charges linked to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and refusal to give back boxes of top secret documents after grudgingly leaving the White House.
'Greatest comeback'
In his speech, Biden slammed Republican abortion opponents, saying they have "no clue about the power of women in America," in what Democrats see as a key vote-winning issue.
And he touted the booming US economy, even if Americans are still unhappy with high prices and polls show many saying their economic fortunes have not improved.
Biden said that "in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told."
"I inherited an economy that was on the brink," he said. "Now our economy is literally the envy of the world. Fifteen million new jobs in just three years -- a record. Unemployment at 50-year lows."
The Democrat took on the war in Gaza, which has provoked fury among leftists and the Arab-American community, angered by Biden's strong support for Israel's attempt to crush Hamas.
He announced that he has ordered the US military to set up a port on Gaza's coast to bring in more aid to Palestinians, reflecting the acute political pressure from many in his own party.
Ahead of the speech, Trump accused Biden of "horrific devastation" during his three years so far in office, focusing on the record numbers of migrants crossing the Mexican border.
However, in the speech, Biden sought to turn tables on Republicans on the issue, calling them out for refusing to pass a bill that would have sharply increased controls.
"We can fight about fixing the border or we can fix it," he said in response to heckling from Republican right-winger Marjorie Taylor Greene. "I'm ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now."
Making light of age
For the millions of Americans tuning in to the spectacle, much of the interest was not just what Biden said, but how he sounded.
Clearly wanting to push back on the Republican-led narrative that he is too old to serve in the White House, Biden responded with more jokes -- and said that age had given him clarity.
"I know it may not look like it but I've been around a while," he said to laughter.
But "when you get to be my age certain things become clearer than ever. I know the American story."
In line with tradition, First Lady Jill Biden hosted a number of guests chosen to highlight the White House's priorities.
This year they include a Texan woman forced to leave the state for an abortion, a woman whose IVF treatment was halted by an Alabama court ruling, and the prime minister of Sweden, which became NATO newest member on Thursday.
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