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Former President Joe Biden called these “dark days” and urged Americans to remain optimistic and not become discouraged in response to what he says are attacks on free speech and tests of the limits of executive power by President Donald Trump.

“Since its founding, the United States served as a beacon for the most powerful idea of ​​government that has ever existed in the history of the world,” Biden said. “The idea is stronger than any army. We are more powerful than any dictator.”

Biden, 82, speaking publicly for the first time since completing a round of radiation therapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, addressed an audience in Boston on Sunday night after receiving the Edward M. Kennedy Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

He said the United States depends on a presidency with limited powers, a functioning Congress and an autonomous judiciary. As the federal government faces its second-longest shutdown on record, Trump has used the funding lapse as a way to exert new control over the government.

“Folks, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden said before predicting that the country will “find our true compass again” and “emerge as we always have: stronger, wiser and more resilient, more just, as long as we keep the faith.”

AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Biden listed examples of people standing firm in the face of threats from the current administration, citing the example of federal employees resigning in protest and universities and comedians who have been targeted by Trump.

“Late night hosts continue to shine a light on free speech knowing their careers are at stake,” he said.

Biden also criticized Republican elected officials who vote for or openly go against the Trump administration.

“America is not a fairy tale,” he said. “For 250 years, it has been a constant tug-of-war, an existential struggle between danger and possibility.”

He ended the speech by telling the people to “rise again.”

The Democrat left office in January after serving one term in the White House. Biden abandoned his re-election bid after facing pressure following a disastrous debate against Trump and concerns about his age, health and mental fitness. Vice President Kamala Harris launched her bid immediately afterward, but lost to Trump last November.

In May, Biden’s post-presidential office announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bones.

Prostate cancers are classified by their aggressiveness using what is known as the Gleason score. Scores range between 6 and 10, with prostate cancers 8, 9 and 10 behaving most aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was a 9.