‘Dark Days’: Biden Brings Doom and Gloom in First Speech Since Radiation Treatment – but Urges Americans to ‘Keep the Faith’

(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

Former President Joe Biden returned to the public stage Sunday night, calling the current political climate “dark days” but urging Americans to “keep the faith” and “get back up.”

Speaking in Boston at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award, the 82-year-old delivered his first public remarks since undergoing radiation therapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

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

Biden said the United States depends on limits to presidential power, a functioning Congress, and an independent judiciary, institutions that he warned were being tested under President Donald Trump.

“Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” he said, before predicting that the nation would “find our true compass again” and “emerge as we always have – stronger, wiser and more resilient, more just, so long as we keep the faith.”

He likened changes under the Trump administration to a “battle for the soul of our nation.”

“And that means we, all of us, and I mean all of us, have an enormous responsibility to take the institution upon which the fate of our nation rests. No one is exempt from responsibility. No one gets a pass on standing up to the bully and standing firm against the threats,” he continued.

He added: “Time and again, throughout history, at moments of great crisis, we Americans have summoned the better angels of our nation and brought our country back from the abyss. And, folks, there’s some good news. It’s happening again right now in America.”

He praised federal workers, comedians, and universities resisting what he described as political intimidation.

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

“America is not a fairy tale,” he said as he ended his speech. “For 250 years, it’s been a constant push and pull, an existential struggle between peril and possibility.”

Then, simply: “Get back up.”