Enraged congressional Republicans call Biden's reelection bid a sign of the apocalypse. But some of his former GOP colleagues say America can simply do better.

• incumbent President Joe Biden is officially running for reelection in 2024 to "finish the job." 
• Some House and Senate Republicans cast a second Biden term as certain doom.
• "Finishing the job would be truly catastrophic," Ted Cruz said, riffing on Biden's reelection theme.

President Joe Biden announcing that he's running again in 2024 set off ultra conservatives on both sides of the US Capitol, sparking fiery rhetoric from those determined to portray a second Biden term as the end of the world while eliciting shrugs from those who've actually worked with him. 

Biden made his second bid official on Tuesday, signing up to face off against Donald Trump or whichever GOP hopeful manages to topple the embattled former president, in a campaign video touting the importance of freedom. 

"Every generation of Americans have faced a moment when they have to defend democracy, stand up for our personal freedom, stand up for our right to vote and our civil rights. And this is our moment," Biden said in a 3-minute spot seeded with clips from his first two years in office. 

He added, "Let's finish this job. I know we can."

Keeping Biden in charge for four more years sounds like a death sentence to GOP leaders who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, prompting Trump loyalists like House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, as well as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Cynthia Lummmis of Wyoming, to laundry list their worst fears. 

Stefanik warned social media users that returning Biden to the White House would "destroy our great Republic as we know it" and that the method of execution would likely be "sleepwalking into World War Three." 

Gosar offered a similarly grim analysis, writing on his Twitter that Biden's endgame is "destroying our country." 

Cruz delved even deeper into the bleakness, predicting that a second Biden administration would usher in more inflation, crime, illegal crossings at the southern border and embolden global adversaries including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.   

"Given the absolute chaos and disaster Biden has produced the first two and a half years, finishing the job would be truly catastrophic," Cruz told Insider while on his way to vote. 

The 2016 presidential contender added that, "Every single policy this White House has touched, has gotten worse and has hurt the American people." 

Lummis didn't lash out directly at Biden, but said he's surrounded himself with troubling individuals. 

"His appointees, in many cases, are literally taking our economy, our geopolitics and our domestic ability as Americans in the wrong direction," Lummis told Insider while walking through the Senate subway. 

Lummis, who serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said she's particularly disappointed in Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan for throwing up roadblocks to traditional energy production at home and promoting green energy projects that rely on foreign technology. 

"They seem to want to destroy American competitiveness," Lummis said. 

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is flirting with a presidential run of his own, threw in with the sky-is-falling crowd. 

"Another term would be a disaster for the American people," Scott said in a campaign statement, railing against "the radical Left's blueprint to ruin America." 

Delegation mate Lindsey Graham, who served with Biden during his tenure on Capitol Hill, took a more measured approach to the news. 

"I just think the policies he's embarked on are not working. And 70% of the public believes the country is going in the wrong direction — on multiple fronts," the South Carolina Republican said of Biden's shortcomings. 

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who also served alongside Biden, said there was no need to panic. Because the American people were bound to come to their senses before next fall. 

"I think he's had a very unsuccessful presidency. And surely, we can do better than that," Wicker told Insider at the US Capitol.