Former President Joe Biden gives a fiery speech in his first remarks since his cancer therapy, says that we’re in “dark and perilous times” but it’s “no time to give up” because America always emerges “stronger, wiser and more resilient.”

Remember when we had a real president?

“Fundamentally, Ted [Kennedy] believed in the power of our democracy to pull our nation through the worst of moments and folks we can’t kid ourselves, we are in one of those moments right now,” Biden said while receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

“In my over fifty years of elected public life, this is the worst I’ve seen it. If Ted were here today, he’d still be fighting like hell but his optimism would be surely tested because truth be told, our very democracy is at stake in my view,” Biden continued.

“Look, I know it’s tempting to check out, to throw up your hands and it feels heartbreaking some days but if Teddy were here today, he’d drawn inspiration from the lessons he and his siblings learned growing up,” Biden went on. “The same ones that I learned from my dad. Whenever we faced tough times as a kid, my dad would look at me and say ‘Joey get up’.”

“‘You get knocked down, get up, Joey. Just get up.’ That’s my message to us tonight,” said Biden. “We have to get up. All those who love Teddy and who love our country, all of us who are dismayed by the present state of the Union, there’s no time to give up. It’s time to get up.”

“We must do better in this country. We all agree that our politics is broken, that political violence, never acceptable, is out of hand, that America should be a place not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace, that our institutions are what makes us the envy of the world, and our democracy is worth fighting like hell for,” he went on. “Friends, since its founding, America has served as a beacon for the most powerful idea ever in government in the history of the world.”

“As Teddy once said, most of the world still knows what we can be, what only we can be. And they want us to be that nation again. America is the only country in the world founded on an idea,” Biden continued. “Not geography, not religion, not ethnicity. A big idea. The idea is stronger than any army, more powerful than any dictator.”

“The idea is that we hold these truths to be self-evident that we’re all created equal, and deserve to be treated with dignity throughout our lives. While we never fully lived up to that idea, we’ve never walked away from it either. And after spending over fifty years at the center of it all, I know the idea of America depends on our respect for the institutions that govern and guarantee a free society.”

“It depends on a presidency with limited powers. It depends on a functioning Congress. It depends on autonomous judiciary,” he continued. “It depends on a free and independent press. Institutions that reflect the timeless words, we hold these truths to be self-evident. And we, the people.”

“Whether we show the courage, stand up to the abuse of power, or are we going to yield to it? We face these existential questions again today. We remain in the battle for the soul of our nation, in my view. And that means we, all of us — and I mean all of us — have an enormous responsibility to protect the institutions upon which the fate of our nation rests.”

“No one is exempt from responsibility. No one gets a pass on standing up to the bullies and standing firm against the threats. Time and again, throughout history, at moments of great crisis, we Americans have summoned the better angels of our nature and brought our country back from the abyss.”

“And, folks, there’s some good news. It’s happening again right now in America. Right now,” said Biden.

“Look across the country and you’ll see it. Average Americans showing courage, making exceptional and extraordinary sacrifices to protect our democracy. The federal employee who resigns rather than follow the order that he knows is wrong.”

“The university that’s fighting back against the threats rather than compromise its academic legitimacy and integrity. The late-night hosts who continue to shine a light on free speech, knowing their careers are on the line. The elected officials who bucked their own party, knowing there will be hell to pay for it.”

“The journalists and corporations and advocacy groups, law firms who are doing the right thing, knowing retribution is right around the corner in every state in this nation. The Americans doing what Teddy Kennedy spent his life doing, standing up, standing tall, fighting to make our country live up to its highest ideals. Because they believe in a simple truth that the soul of the nation is worth fighting for.”

“Let me close with this. America is not a fairytale. For 250 years, it’s been a constant push and pull, an existential struggle between peril and possibility,” said Biden. “We’re not guaranteeing any happy endings. And maybe, maybe it’s that unwavering optimism I learned from my friend Teddy that caused me to say, I believe in the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. That’s why the work of Edward M. Kennedy Institute is so important, teaching young people how to fight for, strengthen, and cherish the institutions that make our democracy literally a beacon for the world.”

“When I was President, I said the most urgent question facing the country was whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause. Sacred cause. I believe the answer is yes.”

“I’ll never believe the answer could ever be anything other than that. It can never be no. As I began to build my own presidential library, I hope that it too will inspire a love of democracy in future generations.”

“Because whatever my legacy may be, I hope it will be said of me, what is true of Teddy, that he believed in our democracy, that he knew it was worth fighting for,” Biden continued.

“Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days, but we’re one of the only countries in the world that time and again has come out of every crisis we faced stronger than we went into that crisis,” he said.

“Every one. And after half a century of watching this, sometimes moved to the brink before finding our true compass again, I still believe, I still believe we’ll emerge as we always have. Stronger, wiser, more resilient, more just.”

“So long as we keep the faith, remember who in God’s name we are. In the words of scripture that the Kennedy family has invoked on other times of great moral crisis, be strong and have good courage. Be not afraid and be not dismayed.”

"Folks, it’s time to get back up. It’s time to get reengaged. It’s time to act, to fight like hell, to fight like Teddy would fight. That’s what we owe Teddy. That’s what we owe each other. That’s what makes us. “Look, that’s what we owe our kids and this country. So it’s time to get back up.”

“Above all else, get back up! Get up, America. Get up, get up, get up now! Thank you. God bless you and may God protect the United States of America,” the former president concluded.

This is what real leadership sounds like. This is what morality and decency and dignity sound like. Donald Trump on his best day could never hope to deliver a speech half as coherent, thoughtful, and moving as this.

The same media that obsessed over Biden’s cognition is now criminally uninterested in the fact that Trump took a dementia test and had an MRI scan. The hypocrisy is scalding but we soldier on.

Get up America!