The Atlantic

The Speech No President Should Have to Give

Joe Biden’s duty made it necessary.
Source: Jim Watson / AFP / Getty

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We’re all parsing The Speech, Joe Biden’s “Soul of the Nation” address about the growing anti-constitutionalism of Republican extremism. But we should first consider how hard it is to evaluate a speech that no president should have to give.

Before we turn to Biden, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.


A Sad Duty

Joe Biden that American democracy is under attack. He did so in plain language and left no doubt about either the dire nature, or the source, of the threat. Most important, he named names—including, , Donald Trump. The president took a political risk and

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