Biden admits he’s old, but shows he’s ready to brawl Trump: President slams Donald 13 times WITHOUT using his name in defiant State of the Union slapping down critics who says he’s not fit to serve – so did he prove them wrong?

President Joe Biden used the backdrop of Congress on Thursday night and his biggest speech of the election year to deliver a sharp political message that democracy is under threat at home and abroad.

It was not so much a state of the Union as a state of the race.

He channeled his message through the prism of Donald Trump, referring to “my predecessor” thirteen times without once uttering his name.

He attacked him on Russia. He attacked him on reproductive rights, on affordable health care, on the border crisis, on gun control, on the January 6 attack and on his handling of the pandemic.

“A president, my predecessor, failed in the most basic presidential duty he owes to the American people: the duty to care,” he said. “I think that’s unforgivable.”

Commentators said it was the most partisan State of the Union address they could remember, as Biden took the opportunity eight months before the election to repeatedly compare himself to the alternative voters.

He even found a way to use his 81 years to his advantage.

“I’ve been told I’m too old,” he said. ‘Whether I’m young or old, I’ve always known… what lasts. I have known our North Star: the whole idea of ​​America is that we are all created equal.”

As he looked toward the future, he added, others looked back toward “anger, revenge and retaliation.”

Trailing in the polls, the oldest president in American history had to boost his campaign. And the live TV audience gave him the opportunity not only to deliver a message, but also to show his strength and suitability for the job.

The result was a president with historically poor approval ratings who gave a nakedly populist speech, with tax hikes for billionaires and promising action on the border crisis.

Republican strategist John Feehery described it as a convention speech and not a State of the Union.

“The elephant outside the room was Trump,” he said. “You can’t escape Trump.

“And all the things he talked about, the populism, the border, the immigration, these are all things that are on his territory.”

If the idea of ​​the speech was to rile Trump up, it worked.

“That may be the angriest, least compassionate and worst State of the Union address ever given,” the former president said. ‘It was a shame for our country!’

The address is one of Biden’s best opportunities to leverage prime-time TV and a direct line to sitting rooms across the country. But the dwindling crowd took some of the atmosphere out of the evening.

Instead, his aides hope he can generate viral moments, like last year when he blasted Republicans who heckled him over cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

This year, in a reminder of the president’s vulnerability, his attempt at a similar ad lib to heckles backfired when he picked up a pin handed to him by Republican controversialist Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Lincoln, Lincoln Riley,” he said. “An innocent young woman murdered by an illegal alien.”

The case has become a cause célèbre among Republicans, highlighting the crime threat posed by migrants, but Biden managed to bungle the name “Laken Riley” and use a term — “an illegal” — that his party didn’t like.

Still, Democrats cheered his strong performance and the way he set the tone for an election in which they say they are fighting for democracy.

“Freedom and democracy are under attack at home and abroad at the same time,” he said as he opened his speech with a call for Congress to support Ukraine.

And he compared his opposition to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Trump’s position.

“Now my predecessor, a former Republican president, is telling Putin: do whatever you want,” he said, his voice dripping with contempt.

‘That’s a quote. A former president actually said that… and later bowed to a Russian.

‘I think it’s scandalous. It is dangerous and unacceptable.”

He used a similar formula throughout, contrasting his policies and views with those of his predecessor.

“My predecessor, and some of you here, are trying to bury the truth about January 6 – I won’t do that,” he said.

“This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies. Here is a simple truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.’

Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said just 48 hours after Super Tuesday, and with the two election candidates all but certain, it made sense to draw the battle lines with the State of the Union.

“I think it was a good illustration of what his re-election campaign will look like,” he said. “He made clear that his goal is to fight against attempts to undermine democracy domestically by Trump and internationally by Putin.”

And Bannon said he tackled the age issues both forcefully and by tackling the issue head-on.

“My fellow Americans,” Biden said as he reached his conclusion, “the problem facing our nation is not how old we are, but how old our ideas are?

‘Hate, anger, revenge and retaliation are among the oldest ideas.

“But you can’t lead America with age-old ideas that will only set us back.

“To lead America, the land of opportunity, you need a future vision of what America can and should be.”