Former President Joe Biden delivered some of his most pointed criticism of the Trump administration since leaving office during a speech to the National Bar Association in Chicago on Thursday. Speaking to nearly 1,100 members of the predominantly Black legal organization, Biden expressed alarm about what he described as attacks on the rule of law and threats to civil rights under the current administration. While he did not mention President Donald Trump by name, his intended target was clear throughout the 20-minute address.
According to Politico, Biden’s remarks echoed previous comments he has made, portraying Trump as a threat to democracy and the rule of law. He criticized what he called the administration’s attempts to roll back basic freedoms and erode long-standing legal precedents. The former president also faulted Congress for what he described as failing to provide adequate checks on executive authority during this period.
The former president delivered a stark assessment of the current political climate, telling the crowd that “you can’t sugarcoat it. These are dark days.” He characterized the moment as reflecting “every cruel executive outreach, every rollback of basic freedoms, every erosion of long-standing, established precedent.” Biden argued that the current administration has worked to reverse the gains made during his time in office, describing their approach as attempting to “erase history rather than making it.”
Biden criticizes administration policies and congressional inaction
Biden specifically criticized the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, pointing to what he described as immigrants who are in the country legally ‘getting dragged away in handcuffs.” He also took aim at what he characterized as the administration’s attacks on law firms and media companies. The former president accused the current administration of trying to “erase truth” and described their overall approach as “cruel.”
Wait what? We’re now complaining that Joe Biden, minus the one assistant, just acts like a normal dude? I have my qualms with the dude but I don’t understand this kind of criticism. https://t.co/WWn1K0XVtL
— Scott Carbone (@scarbone1) August 1, 2025
The speech included criticism of Congress for “sitting on the sidelines” rather than serving as an effective check on executive power. Biden argued that lawmakers have failed to adequately respond to what he sees as overreach by the current administration. He emphasized that his concerns about the current direction of the country were not hyperbole but factual assessments of the situation.
Biden’s address was not limited to criticism of current policies. He wove personal stories from his past into the speech, including his early experiences in Wilmington, Delaware’s Black community and his work as a young public defender following the 1968 riots. He invoked Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination and praised former President Lyndon Johnson for signing the Civil Rights Act.
Biden also highlighted his own record of appointing Black women to the federal bench and selecting Kamala Harris as his vice president. The speech concluded with Biden’s assertion that America has historically emerged stronger from every crisis, telling the audience, which included Rev. Jesse Jackson, that there has been nothing in the country’s history that Americans haven’t been able to accomplish when working together.
