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Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 17:24:44 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Speaking of Joe Biden, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly has a preview of the speech the president plans to give later today marking the third anniversary of the January 6 attack, and also kicking off his re-election campaigning in 2024: Joe Biden will on Friday mark the third anniversary of the deadly January 6 attack on Congress, delivering his first presidential election campaign speech of 2024 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania – a site replete with historical meaning.
A day before the anniversary, due to a bad weather forecast, Biden will speak where George Washington’s army endured another dark moment: the bitter winter of 1777-78, an ordeal key to winning American independence from Britain.
Biden will also speak about the January 6 attack on Monday at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, where in June 2015 a gunman shot dead nine Black people in an attempt to start a race war.
Donald Trump’s nearest challenger for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, was governor of South Carolina at the time and subsequently oversaw the removal of the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds.
Haley has since struggled to define her position on the flag and the interests it represented, last week in New Hampshire failing to say slavery caused the civil war.
But the Biden campaign is focusing on Trump, who refused to accept his conclusive defeat in 2020, spreading the lie that he was denied by electoral fraud and ultimately encouraging supporters to attempt to stop certification of Biden’s win by Congress.
The attack on the Capitol delayed certification but the process was completed in the early hours of 7 January. Biden was inaugurated two weeks later.
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Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 18:58:26 GMT -5
 (The Guardian) Biden to ask 'is democracy still America’s sacred cause?' in speech marking January 6 anniversaryIn his remarks this afternoon to mark the third anniversary of January 6, Joe Biden will remind Americans of Donald Trump’s involvement in the storming of the Capitol, and cast next year’s election as decisive for determining whether the country’s democracy is to survive. “Today we are here to answer the most important of questions: is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” the president will say, according to speech excerpts released by his campaign. “This isn’t rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. It is what the 2024 election is all about.” Biden won’t hold back on directly criticizing Trump and linking him to the attack. The former president is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, according to opinion polls. “When the attacks of January 6th happened, there was no doubt about the truth. At the time, even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators publicly and privately condemned the attack. And as one Republican senator said, Trump’s behavior was embarrassing and humiliating for the country,” Biden will say. “But now as time has gone on, politics, fear, money have all intervened. And those MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump and January 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned our democracy. They’ve made their choice. Now the rest of us – Democrats, Independents, mainstream Republicans – we have to make our choice.” Biden will speak at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes from Valley Forge, where George Washington’s army camped out and regrouped during the American Revolution. He originally planned to speak on Saturday, the anniversary of the insurrection, but moved his speech up a day due to an approaching winter storm. |
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Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 19:06:05 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden says 'we nearly lost America' on January 6, attacks TrumpJoe Biden opened his campaign speech in Pennsylvania by remembering the severity of the January 6 attack, before shifting to a pointed attack on Donald Trump. “Today we gathered in a new year … just one day before January 6, a day forever seared in our memory because it was on that day when we nearly lost America,” the president said. He continued: Today, we’re here to answer the most important questions. Is democracy still America’s sacred cause? This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. If democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time.
And it’s what the 2024 election is all about. The choice is clear. Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power.”
In previous months, Biden’s speeches have focused on his administration’s accomplishments. This speech, his first of the year, marks a change in tack, with the president taking direct aim at Donald Trump, who polls show has a commanding lead for the Republican presidential nomination. “His lies brought a mob to Washington,” Biden said, continuing to attack the former president for inciting the January 6 attack. “He promised it would be wild and it was. He told the crowd to fight like hell, and all hell was unleashed. He promised … everything they did, he would be side by side with them. Then as usual, he left the dirty work to others and retreated to the White House.”
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Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 19:07:52 GMT -5
(The Guardian) 'Can't be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American,' Biden saysAfter recounting the violence of January 6 and Donald Trump’s failure to overturn his election victory, Joe Biden issued a strong denouncement of political violence. “Trump won’t do what an American president must do. He refuses to denounce political violence,” Biden said. “Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States.” “It has no place in a democracy,” he continued. “You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American.”
Biden reminded voters of the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of the then Democratic speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. “Trump and his Maga supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about,” Biden said. At his rally, he jokes about an intruder whipped up by the big Trump lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull and echoing the very same word used on January 6 … he thinks that’s funny.”
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Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 19:09:45 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden says Trump will launch 'assault on democracy' if re-electedJoe Biden has warned that Donald Trump plans to launch an “assault on democracy” if returned to the White House. “Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past. It’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s been straightforward. He’s not hiding the ball,” the president said. “His first rally for the 2024 campaign opened with a choir of January 6 insurrectionists singing from prison on cellphone, while images of the January 6 riot playing on the big screen behind him,” Biden continued. “This is like something out of a fairy tale.” He continued: “Trump began his 2024 campaign by glorifying the failed violent insurrection … on our Capitol. The guy who claims law and order stands for lawlessness and disorder. Trump’s not concerned about your future, I promise you. Trump is now promising a full scale campaign of revenge and retribution, his words, for some years to come.”
Biden says defending democracy will remain 'a central cause of my presidency'Joe Biden is now shifting away from directly attacking Donald Trump to outlining his own policies, saying he will prioritize defending democracy for the rest of his presidency. “I make this sacred pledge to you. The defense, protection, preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, a central cause of my presidency,” Biden said. He continued: America, as we began this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot. Yes, we’ll be voting on many issues and the freedom to vote and have your vote counted. The freedom of choice. Freedom to have a fair shot. A freedom from fear. We will debate, disagree. Without democracy, no progress is possible. Think about it. The alternative to democracy is dictatorship.
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