US President Donald Trump on Thursday accepted the Republican party nomination to run for a second term with an expansive criticism of Joe Biden, his Democratic challenger, who, he said, “will be the destroyer of American Greatness” rather than the “savior of America’s soul” he is touting to be.

Trump sought to portray Biden as weak on China, immigration, foreign policy and a “Trojan horse” for the radical left wing of the Democratic party that, he argued, reprising a central theme from the Republican party’s case against the former vice-president, will drive the country to utter lawlessness and chaos.

The President defended his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was the central criticism of his presidency at the Democratic party’s convention the week before to nominate Biden and Kamala Harris, a historic pick as the first Indian American and Black woman to run for vice-president.

Trump framed the November 3 elections as a choice between “two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas” and portrayed the second — Biden’s — as dark and dystopian, as argued by speaker after speaker at the convention, citing the anti-racism protests.

Republicans have sought to blunt the Democrats’ criticism of the Trump administration’s widely acknowledged mishandling of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected close to 6 million Americans and killed close to 180,000, by stoking fears of lawlessness citing the protests.

“This election will decide whether we will defend the American Way of Life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it,” Trump said in the speech, at a political event held for the first time on the premises of the White House, which as the “people’s house”, is neutral ground.

“Biden is a Trojan horse for socialism,” Trump said, echoing a characterisation of Biden that was first used by vice-president Mike Pence in his acceptance speech Wednesday.

The insinuation is that Biden, who has been a lifelong moderate with an ability to reach across the aisle, will be under the influence of the Democratic party’s progressive wing led by Bernie Sanders, an independent senator, and young members of congress such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

“If Joe Biden doesn’t have the strength to stand up to wild-eyed Marxists like Bernie Sanders and his fellow radicals, then how is he ever going to stand up for you?”

The president spoke for over 70 minutes, covering the entire range of the Republican party’s case against not only Biden but Democratic candidates down the ballot. At stake is not only the White House, but the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-led senate.