President Joe Biden is set to commemorate the third anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the Charleston church shooting by invoking the Revolutionary War and visiting historical sites. On Saturday, Biden will deliver a speech at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and the Continental Army endured a harsh winter during the Revolutionary War. The purpose of this visit is to denounce former President Donald Trump for the Capitol riot orchestrated by his supporters in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Following this, Biden will travel to Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist attacked and killed nine Black parishioners in 2015. By visiting these dark chapters of American history, Biden aims to emphasize the importance of the upcoming election and the threat he believes Trump poses to American democracy. He plans to characterize his predecessor as a serious danger to the nation's founding principles, warning that a second term for Trump would lead to the undermining of U.S. democracy.

Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, stated that they are running a campaign as if the fate of democracy depends on it because they believe it does. The campaign has highlighted Trump's rhetoric, including his comparison of immigrants to “poison” and his joke about becoming a dictator, to portray him as a significant threat to democracy. The campaign argues that even if another Republican candidate wins the primary, they would be similar enough to Trump in their extreme positions to pose a similar threat to democracy.

Biden's personal experiences with tragedy and his promise to heal the "soul of the nation" have shaped his political identity. He has faced personal losses, such as the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter in 1972, and the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015. These experiences have motivated him to take action against hate and division. Instead of focusing on bridging the partisan divide, Biden will emphasize the existential threats posed by Trump and his supporters.

The Biden campaign believes that the future of democracy is at stake in the upcoming election, and they have tied issues like abortion access to the broader theme of defending democracy. They plan to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years before being overturned in 2022, to highlight the importance of freedom and fair elections. The campaign also intends to address concerns about book banning, corporate interests, and the need for free and fair elections.

As the campaign progresses, Biden's travel will likely focus on official White House duties until a Republican presidential nominee emerges. However, the campaign is determined to convey the message that the fight for democracy is ongoing and that the stakes are high in the upcoming election. By invoking historical events and personal tragedies, Biden seeks to rally support and mobilize voters to protect American democracy.