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Joe Biden denied he is “angry” with Democrats who tried to remove him as their candidate ahead of this year’s US election – as he said “democracy must be preserved” in an emotional farewell speech to his party’s members.

The outgoing US president was seen wiping away tears as he walked out to deliver a speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday night.

He had been introduced to the stage at the United Center by his daughter Ashley for what was billed as his swansong.

It was followed by a four-minute-long ovation and chants of “thank you Joe” from those in the crowd.

“America, I love you,” he replied.

As it happened: Biden addresses Democratic National Convention

In a nearly hour-long address, Mr Biden called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a “loser” and urged people to get behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris ahead of this year’s US election.

His speech came less than a month after he dropped out of the race for the White House following months of speculation about his age and his fitness to serve another four years.

Concerns increased among Democrats after a disastrous debate performance against Mr Trump in June and a series of high-profile gaffes.

Senior Democrats, including former US President Barack Obama, expressed their concerns about him running, while former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Biden‘s long-time friend and ally, urged him to step aside.

Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Trump presented as a threat to democracy

Addressing the moves within the party to have him replaced as the presidential candidate, Mr Biden said: “I love the job, but I love my country more

“All this talk about how I’m angry at all the people who said I should step down – that’s not true.

“I love my country more and we need to preserve our democracy.”

Chants of “we love Joe” filled the arena as he made the remarks.

Mr Biden also told those gathered that the US is at an “inflection point” and November’s election will determine the fate of the nation and the world for “decades to come”.

Read more:
An awkward goodbye for a president who didn’t want to go
Five things to watch out for at the Democratic National Convention

An emotional Joe Biden delivers a speech to the 2024 Democratic National Convention Pic: AP
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An emotional Joe Biden delivers a speech to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Pic: AP

The US president has long presented Mr Trump as a threat to the country’s democracy and said he believes the Republican candidate will not accept the result if he loses.

Mr Biden said: “Democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered and now democracy must be preserved.”

Directing criticism at Mr Trump, Mr Biden said: “Think of the message he sends around the world when he talks about America being a failing nation.

“He says we’re losing. He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong.”

The US president added: “Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept election results if he loses again. He’ s promising a bloodbath – his words.

“We need you to beat Trump and elect Kamala and Tim president and vice president of the United States of America.”

Joe Biden wipes away a tear as he takes to the stage. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Joe Biden wipes away a tear as he takes to the stage. Pic: Reuters

Biden says farewell

Mr Biden also ran through his achievements during his time in the Oval Office, telling the crowd that he had forged “the strongest economy in the entire world” in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

In the final moments of his speech he said: “America, I gave my best to you.”

The US president spent 52 years rising to the pinnacle of influence within his party before stepping aside for Ms Harris to run in this year’s election.

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Tearful Joe Biden says farewell

As he began to wrap up his speech, Mr Biden took a moment to remind people why they should vote for current vice president Ms Harris in November this year.

He said: “Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee, and it’s the best decision I made.

“She’s tough, she’s experienced and she has enormous integrity.”

Ms Harris herself later made an unannounced appearance, drawing cheers from the crowd as she vowed to defeat Mr Trump in the election.

“Let us fight for the ideals we hold dear and let us always remember, when we fight we win,” she said in brief remarks.

She also paid tribute to Mr Biden, thanking him for “historic leadership” and a “lifetime of service” to the nation.

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Kamala Harris’s surprise turn

‘Lock him up’

Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton, whose loss to Mr Trump in the 2016 election ended her hopes of becoming the first female US president, gave a speech where she said Ms Harris could succeed where she could not.

“Kamala has the character, experience and vision to lead us forward,” she said, after entering to a standing ovation.

Mrs Clinton also took shots at her former nemesis, who became the first former US president to be criminally convicted in May.

“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history, the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions,” she said.

Hillary Clinton said she sees Kamala Harris ‘on the other side of the glass ceiling’ during Democratic National Convention speech.
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Hillary Clinton delivers a speech at the convention

Chants of “lock him up” broke out at the convention – echoing the “lock her up” chant Trump supporters directing at Mrs Clinton during her presidential campaign.

While Democrats gathered for their convention, thousands of people assembled at a nearby park to protest the party’s military support for Israel’s Gaza offensive.

The protesters were fewer than the tens of thousands organisers predicted, but a splinter group left the main march and breached a security perimeter near the convention centre, with riot police detaining four people.

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Day 77: Q&A – Trump’s tariffs, Putin’s Arctic, and penguins

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Day 77: Q&A - Trump's tariffs, Putin's Arctic, and penguins

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On Day 77, US correspondents Mark Stone and David Blevins answer your questions on everything from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and their impact on American consumers, to Trump’s relationship with Putin and if they have plans for the Arctic, and penguins.

If you’ve got a question you’d like Mark, Martha, and James to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

Don’t forget, you can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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Thousands protest against Donald Trump and Elon Musk at rallies in all 50 US states

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Thousands protest against Donald Trump and Elon Musk at rallies in all 50 US states

Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.

Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.

The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.

In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”

Demonstrators hold up their banners during a 'Hands Off!' protests protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP

A demonstrator twirls a ribbon during a "Hands Off!" protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Pic: AP

Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”

Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Demonstrators march during a "Hands Off!" protest against President Donald Trump on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
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Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP

People take part in the nationwide anti-Trump “Hands Off” protest in Atlanta, Georgia U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/ Megan Varner
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People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters

Hundreds of people show up to protest President Donald Trump at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vt., during a national "Hands Off" protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)
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A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP

Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.

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“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.

A drone view shows a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters

People participate in a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters

People participate in a protest at the Utah State Capitol building in a demonstration that is part of larger "Hands off" events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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Pic: Reuters

Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.

Protesters refuse to take Donald Trump’s policies lying down

It was built to honour George Washington, a founding father of the United States.

And in the shadow of the 555ft Washington Monument, protestors were refusing to accept Donald Trump’s policies lying down.

“Stand tall,” they chanted, again and again.

“In every city, stand tall. In every state, stand tall. In truth, stand tall. In justice, stand tall.”

Those words, shouted by thousands on the city’s iconic mall, were reinforced by the words on their placards and t-shirts.

A minister, wearing a t-shirt with ‘Troublesome Priest’ printed on it, told me she found what was happening in the US government “appalling and immortal”.

One man said he had won the long-distance award, having travelled 2,750 miles from Hawaii for the protest.

“I finally reached a breaking point,” he added. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Another woman said: “We have to speak up, we have to act, we have to do something, because this is not America.”

I asked her what she would say to those who argue the people did speak when they elected Donald Trump as president.

She replied: “Some people have spoken and then some people have not and those of us that have not, we need to speak now.”

Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.

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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.

People protest in Manhattan, during a demonstration that is part of larger “Hands Off!” events organized nationwide against U.S. President Donald Trump, in New York City, New York, U.S., April 5, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
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People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters

Activists protest President Donald Trump, who was a few miles away at his Trump National Golf Club, during a "Hands Off!" demonstration Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP

Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”

The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

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He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

Read more:
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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