According to a report by Associated Press on Friday, January 5, 2024, president Joe Biden delivered a scathing speech at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, marking nearly three years since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Biden chose the historic site, where George Washington and his troops endured a harsh winter during the American Revolution, to draw a parallel between the struggle for democracy then and now.
He accused Trump of holding “singular responsibility” for the “chaos and carnage” that unfolded on Jan. 6, when a violent mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
“For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol,” Biden said.
“What’s Trump done? He’s called these insurrectionists ‘patriots,’” Biden added, “and he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.”
“Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is 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. Our campaign is different.”, he added.
Biden also criticized the Republican lawmakers who have echoed Trump’s false claims of election fraud, or downplayed the severity of the Jan. 6 riot, which resulted in five deaths and hundreds of injuries.
“Some have gone so far as to say the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol were actually peaceful patriots. Or that the whole thing was just a ‘normal tourist visit.’ Or that the rioters in some way were justified,” Biden said.
He warned that such lies and misinformation pose a threat to American democracy and the rule of law.
“We’re in the midst of an all-out assault on the right to vote, fair and free elections, and the rule of law in America today. An assault that is driven by the same lies that drove the mob to assault the Capitol,” Biden said.
He urged Americans to stand up for the truth and defend their freedom, saying that democracy is “not a guarantee” but “a precious and fragile thing.”
“We have to work to keep it. To preserve it. To protect it. And to pass it on to our children and grandchildren,” Biden said.
