Ignoring Trump Didn’t Work. Biden Goes After ‘a Defeated Former President.’

WASHINGTON — For astir of his archetypal twelvemonth successful office, President Biden has stake that helium could determination the state past the divisiveness of his predecessor by restoring a consciousness of normalcy to the White House, practicing the accepted marque of authorities helium learned implicit decades successful the Senate and arsenic vice president — and mostly ignoring the antheral helium refers to arsenic “the erstwhile guy.”

It didn’t work.

So connected Thursday, Mr. Biden enactment speech his hopes of nary longer having to prosecute straight with Donald J. Trump and went aggressively astatine him, utilizing an impassioned code successful the Capitol to marque wide the urgent necessity of confronting Mr. Trump — and Trumpism.

“We saw it with our ain eyes. Rioters menaced these halls, threatening the beingness of the talker of the house, virtually erecting gallows to bent the vice president of the United States of America,” Mr. Biden said from National Statuary Hall.

“What did we not see?” helium continued. “We didn’t spot a erstwhile president who had conscionable rallied the mob to attack, sitting successful the backstage eating country disconnected the Oval Office successful the White House, watching it each connected tv and doing thing for hours arsenic constabulary were assaulted, lives astatine risk, the nation’s capitol nether siege.”

Later, Mr. Biden was adjacent much blunt, adjacent arsenic helium refused to utter Mr. Trump’s name. “He was conscionable looking for an excuse, a pretext, to screen for the truth,” helium said of Mr. Trump’s lies astir predetermination fraud. “He’s not conscionable a erstwhile president. He’s a defeated erstwhile president.”

The bonzer moment, successful which a sitting president accused his predecessor of holding “a dagger astatine the pharynx of America, astatine American democracy,” marked a crisp pivot successful Mr. Biden’s strategy for dealing with Mr. Trump and his continuing promotion of the baseless assertion that the 2020 predetermination was marred by fraud.

The president’s code tacitly acknowledged that his predecessor, acold from fading away, remains the astir potent unit successful Republican authorities and a credible rival to Mr. Biden successful 2024. And for Mr. Biden, who passim the past twelvemonth has articulated the value of promoting ideology implicit autocracy astir the world, it besides signaled his willingness to face much straight the challenges Mr. Trump poses to antiauthoritarian values astatine home, which person shown small motion of dissipating successful the twelvemonth since a convulsive mob tried to artifact the certification of Mr. Biden’s predetermination victory.

The attack has its risks, not slightest successful providing Mr. Trump with amended opportunities to deed Mr. Biden with broadsides of his ain — an opening that Mr. Trump seized connected Thursday with a bid of aggravated statements accusing the president of supporting “open borders,” “unconstitutional mandates” and “corrupt elections.”

But continuing to disregard his predecessor carries existent peril for Mr. Biden arsenic well. Recent polling suggests that millions of Americans are astatine slightest somewhat willing to tolerate oregon enactment governmental violence against partisan opponents.

Republican-controlled states are considering oregon enacting restrictions connected voting rights. Supporters of Mr. Trump are seeking to power the machinery of elections successful cardinal states, perchance giving them the powerfulness to artifact an result they oppose. Substantial majorities of Republicans successful polls accidental they judge the results of the 2020 predetermination were illegitimate.

Mr. Trump’s power implicit the Republican Party remains beardown — helium is trying to beryllium its de facto kingmaker and helium is polling arsenic its front-runner for the 2024 statesmanlike election. His mendacious statements connected predetermination fraud proceed to disagreement Americans.

Last month, the 2 presidents shared a uncommon occurrence: commending each other. In an effort to code vaccine hesitancy among galore Trump supporters — unvaccinated Americans are disproportionally Republican — Mr. Biden praised the erstwhile administration’s enactment connected coronavirus vaccines, prompting Mr. Trump to explicit gratitude.

Since his inauguration, Mr. Biden has repeatedly condemned the convulsive battle connected the Capitol and has adjacent criticized Mr. Trump by sanction connected a fewer occasions. Yet earlier Thursday, helium had ne'er arsenic president taken specified a direct, assertive code against Mr. Trump and his falsehoods, oregon the Republicans who person enabled him.

“He values powerfulness implicit principle,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Trump. “Because helium sees his ain interests arsenic much important than his country’s interest, and America’s interest. And due to the fact that his bruised ego matters much to him than our ideology oregon our constitution.”

Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, said returning to a contentious tit-for-tat would lone alienate Trump supporters the medication was hoping to vaccinate.

The president said “some courageous men and women” were trying to uphold the principles of the Republican Party, but “too galore others are transforming that enactment into thing else.”

Key Figures successful the Jan. 6 Inquiry

Mr. Biden said helium was consenting to enactment with Republicans successful Congress “who enactment the regularisation of instrumentality and not the regularisation of a azygous man.”

Michael Chertoff, the erstwhile homeland information caput nether President George W. Bush and a Republican, said the displacement by Mr. Biden was indispensable due to the fact that Mr. Trump’s mendacious statements astir the 2020 predetermination and the battle connected the Capitol amounted to a nationalist information threat. The F.B.I. and the Homeland Security Department person issued aggregate assessments concluding that specified misinformation has emboldened domestic extremists to perpetrate violence.

“Given Trump’s ego, it’s perfectly due to look him successful the oculus and say, ‘I cognize what you did, it’s not due and it’s not going to hap again,’” Mr. Chertoff said. “It was indispensable for the president to amusement I americium not shrinking from calling retired what is going on.”

David Axelrod, a erstwhile apical advisor to erstwhile President Barack Obama, said Mr. Biden should support the aforesaid code successful the aboriginal regarding Mr. Trump.

“Going aft Trump, who remains profoundly unpopular extracurricular his base, could beryllium astute politics, particularly if it draws him backmost into the fray,” Mr. Axelrod said, adding that determination was a request to face the ideology that fueled onslaught connected the Capitol. “Hard to instrumentality that connected without confronting the writer and main purveyor of the lie.”

Even arsenic Mr. Biden confronted Mr. Trump, determination is small motion the code volition alteration the behaviour of Republicans beholden to the erstwhile president and reluctant to cooperate with Mr. Biden.

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, said successful the days aft the riot that Mr. Trump “bears responsibility” for the violence, lone to aboriginal question to Mar-a-Lago to sphere his narration with the erstwhile president. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the number leader, has been much forceful successful his condemnations of the erstwhile president, but immoderate longtime conservatives are showing expanding anxiousness implicit Mr. Trump’s continued grip connected the party.

Karl Rove, a erstwhile elder advisor to President George W. Bush, criticized “Republicans who for a twelvemonth person excused the actions of the rioters who stormed the Capitol” successful an sentiment portion this week successful The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Biden, with a slim bulk successful Congress, is struggling to unite his enactment down his priorities: advancing a clime and social-spending bundle bill, arsenic good arsenic national voting rights legislation. The president’s support ratings person been low, successful portion due to the fact that of rising ostentation and the pandemic, making the transition of his docket adjacent much important up of the midterm elections.

Pressed by reporters aft his code implicit whether his remarks would lone deepen divisions successful America, Mr. Biden said helium did not mean to make “a modern governmental battle” with Mr. Trump.

But helium said candor was captious to moving forward.

“The mode you person to heal, you person to admit the grade of the wound,” Mr. Biden said. “You can’t pretend. This is superior stuff.”