In a rare public address, former president said US is experiencing ‘dark days’ and urged Americans to vote

Joe Biden has warned that his presidential successor, Donald Trump, will attempt to “steal” the midterm elections, in what for him is a rare public address.

Speaking in South Carolina, where he was being honored for his lifetime achievement in politics, Biden also asserted that the US is experiencing “dark days”, in a speech made hours before the Trump administration launched attacks on Iran.

Reprising a line from the 2020 campaign that saw him defeat Trump and end his first presidency, Biden told the crowd at the Columbia Museum of Art on Friday that the “battle for the soul of this nation is one that’s never really over”. He simultaneously criticized Trump’s plan to introduce potentially prohibitive voting requirements ahead of the midterms.

“Here’s the good news,” Biden continued. “In America, the power still belongs to the people for now. And the way to show the power is vote, show up and vote. And folks, when we do that, that’s bad news for Donald Trump, and he knows it.