Biden calls these ‘dark days’ as he urges Americans to ‘get back up’

Former President Joe Biden called these “dark days” as he urged Americans to remain optimistic and not check in response to what he sees as attacks on free speech and testing of the limits of executive power by President Donald Trump.

“Since its founding, America has served as a beacon of the most powerful idea of ​​government ever seen in the history of the world,” Biden said. “The idea is stronger than any army. We are more powerful than a dictator.”

Biden, 82, speaking publicly for the first time since completing a round of radiation therapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, addressed an audience in Boston on Sunday evening after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

He said America depends on a presidency with limited powers, a functioning Congress and an autonomous judiciary. As the federal government faces the second-longest shutdown on record, Trump has used financial resources as a way to exert new control over the government.

“My friends, I cannot sugarcoat this. These are dark days,” Biden said before predicting that the country would “find our true compass again” and “emerge as we always have — stronger, wiser and more resilient, more just, as long as we keep the faith.”

Biden cited examples of people standing up to threats from the current administration, citing the example of federal employees resigning in protest, as well as universities and comedians who have been targeted by Trump.

“Late night hosts continue to shine a light on free speech, knowing their careers are on the line,” he said.

Biden also called out Republican elected officials who vote for or openly oppose the Trump administration.

“America is not a fairy tale,” he said. “For 250 years it has been a constant back and forth, an existential struggle between peril and possibility.”

He ended his speech by telling people to “get up again.”

The Democrat left office in January after serving one term in the White House. Biden abandoned his re-election bid after facing pressure following a disastrous debate against Trump and concerns about his age, health and mental fitness. Vice President Kamala Harris launched her candidacy soon after, but lost to Trump last November.

In May, Biden’s post-presidential office announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bones.

Prostate cancers are classified based on their aggressiveness using what is called a Gleason score. Scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was 9.