WASHINGTON — One-half of a potential presidential rematch formally joined the 2024 fray Tuesday as Joe Biden finally launched his re-election campaign, setting the stage for a sequel to 2020 that a majority of Americans do not want.
After months of hinting broadly he'd be running again despite mounting Democratic concerns about his age, the 80-year-old sitting U.S. president made it official by way of a three-minute video on social media.
And it appears his strategy is to pick up where he left off.
"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are," Biden says in the video.
"The question we're facing is whether in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer. I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too."
It's a message that presumes Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor and chief 2020 antagonist, will be the Republican nominee — a prediction that's difficult to make at the moment given the former president's legal troubles.
Trump has already been indicted in New York on 34 charges of falsifying business records as part of what prosecutors allege was a scheme to cover up embarrassing hush-money payments prior to the 2016 election.
On Monday, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis announced she'll decide this July whether or not to indict the former president following her investigation of allegations that he interfered with the 2020 election in Georgia.
And then there's the fact that special counsel Jack Smith is actively investigating Trump's efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss and his handling of classified documents recovered last year from his Florida country-club sanctuary.
But assuming Trump does become the Republican nominee, a Biden win in 2024 would clearly be the best possible outcome for Canada, said Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at Western University in London, Ont.
"Canada has to live next to a democracy — a peaceful one," Lebo said.
"You have one political party that has endorsed violence, that has refused to accept the results of a democratic election and has gone further and further away from democratic norms. It is best for Canada to not have that party in power."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear Tuesday where his allegiances lie.
"I think it's great news," Trudeau said of Biden's announcement.
"He is a leader that is needed not just by the United States, but by the world, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with him for many years."
That's a striking sentiment, considering how emphatic Biden has been both in office and on the campaign trail about protectionist policies like Buy American, a talking point he repeated Tuesday in his first public remarks since the launch.
"You might notice I've been criticized by other countries, by our partners and even by our Republican friends for buying American," Biden told a gathering of tradespeople and union members in Washington, D.C.
"We're going to spend American tax dollars. Americans are paying the money, and we're gonna buy American when we do it."
That said, a second-term Biden could be good for Canada because he'd be free to focus on his legacy and place in history, said John Aldrich, a politics professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
"One way many do that is by paying more attention to foreign affairs, and given his own history, I expect Biden to do exactly that," Aldrich said.
"Hopefully that means a steady hand on the tiller combined with caring about America's position in the world."
Americans, however, appear unenthusiastic about the campaign taking shape. An NBC News poll released Monday found that a majority of respondents would far rather that neither Biden nor Trump were on their respective tickets.
Seventy per cent of respondents — and 51 per cent of those who identified as Democrats — said they would rather not see Biden running for president again, while 60 per cent said they feel the same way about Trump, including one-third of Republicans.
As rematches go, "this one carries real risks," given how deeply unpopular the two front-runners are in the other's party, Aldrich said.
Prepare for a barrage of claims of election fraud, as well as the risk of violence given what happened in the dying days of the Trump administration: a deadly Capitol Hill riot, images of which figured prominently in Biden's launch video.
"While this could be the least pleasant campaign to watch, my guess is that these two have been around and facing each other for so long, the public will tire," Aldrich said.
Newly energized elements of the protests on Jan. 6 could also reappear to "cause potentially serious mischief, with a threat of violence always nearby."
Republicans, for their part, are already girding for battle.
An attack ad produced with artificial intelligence appeared shortly after Biden's announcement — a gritty, dystopian vision of a world in conflict and chaos following a Democratic victory.
"What if the weakest president we've ever had were re-elected," it asked, as a soundtrack of air-raid sirens and bleak news reports accompanied images of war in Taiwan, a flood of migrants and economic catastrophe.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), one of Trump's staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill, also wasted little time Tuesday, describing Biden as a "disastrous" president whose ambitions the country can't afford.
"The American people are suffering from crippling inflation, record illegal border crossings and woke policies that seek to destroy our freedoms," Stefanik said in a statement.
"Now, more than ever, our country needs Donald J. Trump, and I will do everything in my power to help elect him in 2024 as president of the United States to save America."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2023.
— With files from Mickey Djuric in Ottawa.
James McCarten, The Canadian Press
