Biden laments divisive 'poison' infecting US politics

US President Joe Biden lamented the polarization of the country's politics on Thursday.

"Our politics have gotten so angry, so mean, so partisan," Biden said from the White House as part of his Christmas remarks.

"Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbours; as Democrats or Republicans, not as fellow Americans," he complained. "We've become too divided."

Biden added that he hopes that the "holiday season will drain the poison that has infected our politics and set us against one another."

A divided, new Congress will be sworn in next month and is likely to incite more partisan discord in Washington, D.C., and the country at large.

In Thursday's speech, Biden also mourned more than a million lives lost to COVID-19 across the United States.

"The pandemic has taken so much from us. We've lost so much time with one another," he said. "We've lost so many people – people we loved. Over a million lives lost in America alone. That's a million empty chairs breaking hearts in homes all across the country."

American families are preparing for Christmas, which falls on Sunday, as a powerful winter storm is bringing severe weather conditions to most parts of the country.

Biden said earlier on Thursday that "this is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff."