Good morning, Playbookers. I'm Kara Tabor. Happy Friday. Both Biden and Trump are trying to put Trump

at center stage right before the midterms. This is your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

There was a lot going on in President Joe Biden's 24-minute primetime speech at Philadelphia's Independence Hall Thursday night.

If you felt some whiplash listening to Biden, you're not alone.

We're in the midst of a confusing and turbulent political period 10 weeks before the midterms.

And it seemed to us that Biden was attempting

to weave together and make sense of a lot of contradictory political currents. At its core,

the speech was about an issue as grave as any that a president might address, what Biden

described as an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. The speech was studied with similar language, such as,

As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault.

We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise.

And there's no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated

by Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans.

And that is a threat to this country.

Biden quoted conservative jurist Jay Michael Ludig, who the president said,

has called Trump and the extreme Maga Republicans a clear and present danger to our democracy.

He said, blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal

to democracy.

Biden was as blunt as he possibly could be, stating,

Magu Republicans are destroying American democracy.

When was the last time our president felt obligated to issue such dire warnings?

These were not just broad evidence-free allegations.

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