CHICAGO — Former President Joe Biden expressed alarm Thursday about attacks on the rule of law and threats to civil rights under President Donald Trump in some of his most pointed criticism about the new administration since leaving office.
Biden, speaking to the National Bar Association in Chicago, did not mention Trump by name but his intended target was clear during remarks that only ran about 20 minutes.
“You can’t sugarcoat it. These are dark days,” Biden told the crowd of nearly 1,100 members of the predominantly Black legal organization.
The remarks echoed, at least in tone, some of his previous comments about Trump, portraying him as a threat to democracy and the rule of law.
“We are, in my view, at such a moment in American history, reflected in every cruel executive outreach, every rollback of basic freedoms, every erosion of long-standing, established precedent,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden also criticized the administration for trying to “erase truth” and faulted Congress for “sitting on the sidelines” and failing to check the authority of the executive branch.
“My friends, we need to face the hard truth of this administration, and that it has been to ease all the gains we’ve made in my administration,” Biden went on. “To erase history rather than making it. To erase fairness, equality, to erase justice itself. And that’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.”
Calling the administration “cruel,” he pointed to “immigrants who are in this country legally … getting dragged away in handcuffs.” And he criticized the administration’s attacks on law firms and media companies.
Biden’s remarks were more than political posturing. His remarks were also a mix of memoir and history lesson. In typical fashion, he wove together stories from his past — his early proximity to the Black community in Wilmington, Delaware, his time as a young public defender after the 1968 riots, and the legacy of the mentors who shaped him.
He invoked Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, saying, “I didn’t just see the pain. I felt it.” And he hailed former President Lyndon Johnson for signing the Civil Rights Act.
Biden also drew attention to his own work appointing more Black women to the bench than any other president, and naming Kamala Harris as his vice president.
And he reminded the crowd of his administration’s support of HBCUs, Historically Black College or University.
Each of the points drew applause from the crowd that included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was also being honored by the organization.
Biden’s speech didn’t meander in the way he has been known to do. There was a through line: America is worth fighting for. “There’s been nothing in the course of our country’s history that we haven’t been able to accomplish,” he said. “We’re the only nation in the world that has come out of every crisis stronger than when we went in.”
Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.