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‘Keep the faith in a better day,’ Biden urges U.S.

President spends final full day in office in South Carolina

By Associated Press
Published: January 19, 2025, 1:29pm
2 Photos
President Joe Biden and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., attend a church service at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., on Sunday.
President Joe Biden and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., attend a church service at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., on Sunday. (Stephanie Scarbrough/Associated Press) Photo Gallery

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Joe Biden spent his final full day as president Sunday in South Carolina, urging Americans to “keep the faith in a better day to come” and reflecting on the influence of both the civil rights movement and the state itself in his political trajectory.

On the eve of today’s inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Biden delivered a final farewell from a state that holds special meaning after his commanding win in its 2020 Democratic primary set him up to achieve his life’s goal of being elected U.S. president.

Biden spoke to the congregation of Royal Missionary Baptist Church about why he entered public service — Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were political heroes, he said — and he thanked South Carolina for its support: “I owe you big.”

The day before the federal holiday honoring King, the slain civil rights leader, Biden struck a more hopeful tone for the future of the country than his televised farewell address Wednesday, when he warned about an “oligarchy” of the ultrawealthy taking root and a “tech-industrial complex” impeding the future of democracy.

“We know the struggle to redeeming the soul of this nation is difficult and ongoing,” Biden said Sunday. “We must hold on to hope. We must stay engaged. We must always keep the faith in a better day to come.”

He added: “I’m not going anywhere” — and the congregation applauded.

Before the service, as hostages started to be released under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. helped broker, Biden said, “The guns in Gaza have gone silent.” He noted that in May, he had outlined the agreement to halt the fighting.

“Now it falls on the next administration to help implement this deal. I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days,” Biden said before offering some advice to Trump on maintaining the hard-won deal.

“Success is going to require persistence and continuing support for our friends in the region and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence,” Biden said.

A group chanted “Biden is a war criminal” as his motorcade moved through Charleston, with his administration having faced intense criticism for shipping arms to Israel and accusations that it didn’t push its ally hard enough to ease a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hundreds sing songs

After Biden spoke on the ceasefire, he and first lady Jill Biden took their seats in the front pew at the church. Several hundred congregants sang gospel songs, rising to their feet and swaying and clapping. A choir led the musical selections from behind the pulpit before the program later shifted to focus on King.

Biden was introduced by Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a key ally who referred to the president as his “longtime friend.” Clyburn cited a number of presidents who were underappreciated in office but now looked on more fondly with the passage of time. He added Biden to that list.

“So I want to say to you, good friend, very little appreciation has been shown recently, but faint not. History will be very kind to you,” Clyburn said.

The Bidens also were to tour the International African American Museum in Charleston. It was built on a waterfront site where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the U.S. from the late 1760s through 1808, according to the museum’s website.

In 2020, Biden saw his campaign flounder after he lost the opening contests in New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada. But at the fourth stop, South Carolina — where Black voters make up a majority of the Democratic electorate — he was lifted to victory after Clyburn’s endorsement.

After winning the election and taking office, Biden pushed for South Carolina to be the state that opened the Democratic Party’s nominating process for 2024, instead of New Hampshire. He easily won the state’s primary that year.

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