Biden urges end to ‘poisonous atmosphere’ in US politics

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for an end to deep US political divisions to prevent a repeat of the shutdown drama that triggered the fall of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

“We need to change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington,” Biden said at the White House. “We have strong disagreements but we need to stop seeing each other as enemies.”The 80-year-old, who is battling low approval ratings ahead of next year´s US presidential election, had little to say about the coup that saw hardline Republicans oust their own House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

And he stayed silent as Donald Trump, his most likely rival in the 2024 presidential election, sat with a face like thunder between his lawyers in one of his many court cases.

“Biden being in the background is a very good strategy,” Robert Rowland, a political communication expert at the University of Kansas, told AFP.

“He should demonstrate he is a strong president and let the Republican bloodbath unfold. He cannot do anything about it, he might as well let the Democrats benefit from it.”

The strategy plays into the White House´s “split screen strategy” to highlight the contrast with the Republicans -- often literally using side-by-side images on social media.

Biden made limited use of the world´s most famous political stage as the Republicans imploded, giving only a brief televised statement on Sunday after a deal in Congress to avert a government shutdown.

In the austere presidential setting of a cabinet meeting the next day he then repeated himself almost word for word and refused to answer questions from reporters.