By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden enters his second year as president with two goals unfinished: to end Trumpism in the United States and unite a polarized nation.

Biden will continue to attack Republican values that are aligned against former President Donald Trump, while offering an olive branch of support to those who oppose him, people familiar with the Democratic president stated in several interviews within and outside the White House.

The new strategy was outlined in Biden’s Thursday speech, which marked the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2016 attack at the Capitol. Biden denigrated Trump for encouraging his supporters to march to the seat of Congress one-year ago, citing unproven allegations of fraud in 2020’s presidential election.

Biden stated that “The Big Lie”, being told in part by the ex-president and other Republicans who fear his wrath, is that insurrections in the country took place on Election Day.”

Can you imagine a worse way of looking at America – can you? “I cannot.”

Biden, his close friends, and others have been making new calculations in advance of the November congressional elections.

The public is divided and consuming misleading information about not only the 2020 election, but also other topics such as whether COVID-19 vaccinations work. They feel the White House is being held back by the Republican Party, which they claim wants to see Biden fail. This could even be a threat to America as a whole.

Jen Psaki (White House press secretary) stated that Biden is shocked by “silence, complacency,” which Republicans have shown in Congress since he was a member for over a decade.

He blasted again Friday in a speech on the U.S. economic performance, which is better than other industrialized nations. Biden claimed that Republicans are trying to discredit the recovery, because they voted against it. They should not stand in the way this recovery.

Biden has been accused of pushing taxes and spending plans that will damage the economy, and increase inflation.

“NOT OUR PRINCE”

Biden filled his first year of office with policies that Democratic Polling revealed most voters supported: an aggressive COVID-19 Response, stimulus checks spending on roads and bridges and a military withdrawal Afghanistan.

While he proposed fixes to those “kitchen-table” topics, most of them avoiding the divisive topic of abortion, his lifelong belief that simple, sympathetic explanations would win the support and affections from America’s center-right majority did not bring the country closer to the goal he had set for himself as a candidate to the presidency.

Biden acknowledged last month that unifying the United States is “proving to be one the most difficult things” as president. He made the admission in Missouri, which he had lost to Trump in 2020.

Biden’s vehicle was welcomed by someone with a sign saying “Not Our President”, yet another reminder that most Republican voters continue to believe Trump’s lies about his election being stolen. Biden was called by children on Christmas Eve to talk about Santa Claus. One parent greeted him with an insincere shout-out, which is a popular choice among Trump supporters.

The president has been unsuccessful in his efforts to reach the middle. According to Reuters/Ipsos polling data, only 48% of Americans approved Biden’s performance December. This compares to 55% support for Biden’s inauguration in 2021.

The White House believes a new effort to push core Democratic values, including speeches to tout voter-enfranchisement concerns and shoring up election laws in time for the 2022 vote, could have broad support among the American people, no matter how they previously voted.

However, a change in focus is dangerous: swing voters love it when Biden seems to want to work with the opposing side. This is what the president’s close aides believe. Biden made a bold attempt to tie the knot in his speech on Thursday, promising to cooperate with Republicans that they support “the rule of law and no one man”

Allies state that Trump is prepared to accept the short-term political pressure associated with attacking Trump.

Richard Harpootlian from South Carolina, a lawyer and Democrat state senator, said that Joe Biden is a long-standing supporter of the president. Harpootlian met with Biden last month. He doesn’t care about week-to, or day-today polls. He is confident that he will reap the rewards of what he does long term.

But he said, “It might have some consequences 2022 that are not his preferred.”