“If our opponents prevail no one will be safe in our country,” Trump told conservative activists in his first speech since the Democratic National Convention ended late on Thursday.
“I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos,” Trump said.
In a preview of what Republicans will argue at their own convention next week, Trump hammered at the law-and-order theme he has embraced in response to anti-racism and police brutality protests in US cities including Portland, Oregon.
He said police had been weakened in “Democrat-run” cities and cited a spike in murders in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and Philadelphia. He urged Americans to turn back “radical left socialists and Marxists.”
He called protesters in Portland “crazy.”
“So the future of our country and indeed our civilization is at stake on Nov. 3,” he said in the speech in Arlington, Virginia, to the 2020 Council for National Policy.
Biden and his running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, accepted their party’s nomination at the four-day Democratic convention, where speaker after speaker characterized Trump’s four years in office as chaotic.
The convention, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, showcased scathing criticism of Trump’s character and his handling of the health crisis, in which more than 170,000 people in the United States have died.
Democrats sought to present a diverse, united front with the integrity and faith they said Trump lacks.