President Joe Biden on Thursday savaged Donald Trump’s
“lies” and attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, vowing on the first
anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot he would let no one put a “dagger at
the throat of democracy.”
In a dark, powerful address, Biden called out Trump’s effort
to cheat and blasted the mob of the Republican’s supporters who stormed the
Capitol in an attempt to prevent certification of the election result.
“This was an armed insurrection,” Biden said in his speech
from Statuary Hall inside the Capitol.
“For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” Biden said.
“They came here in rage,” Biden said, and “held a dagger at
the throat of America.”
“I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of
democracy.”
Laying out the dangers facing a country that has long styled
itself as leader of the free world, Biden asked: “Are we going to be a nation
that accepts political violence as a norm?”
“Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan
election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?” the
veteran Democrat continued.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation.”
Although Biden did not mention Trump’s name, he made clear
whom he was talking about in a blistering portrait of a man he said tried to
cheat his way out of defeat in the election.
“The former president of the United States of America has
created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He
values power over principle.”
During the assault on Congress, Trump was “sitting in the
private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on
television and doing nothing for hours,” Biden said, his anger clear. “He’s a
defeated former president.”
– Republicans keep clear –
In a statement issued immediately after Biden’s speech,
Trump accused the Democrat of seeking to “further divide America.”
“This political theater is all just a distraction for the
fact Biden has completely and totally failed,” Trump said.
The day’s commemorative events were also to feature a speech
by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and a prayer
vigil on the steps of the Capitol.
However, such are the depths of division 12 months later
that many senior Republicans didn’t even show up.
The party’s top lawmaker, Senator Mitch McConnell, was
leading a delegation to a funeral of a recently deceased senator some 600 miles
(965 kilometers) away in Atlanta, Georgia.
In a statement, McConnell said January 6 had been a “dark
day” but called it “stunning to see some Washington Democrats try to exploit
this anniversary.”
– ‘True patriotism’ –
On Wednesday, the Capitol police chief, Thomas Manger, said
his forces would never be caught unprepared again, as they were last year.
But the political risk may be, if anything, higher than
before.
Writing in The New York Times, former Democratic president
Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that the United States “teeters on the brink of a
widening abyss.”
“Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil
conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside
differences and work together before it is too late,” Carter wrote.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called
for a profound look at the state of the nation.
“Without addressing the root causes of the violence on
January 6, the insurrection will not be an aberration — it could well become
the norm,” he warned.
More surprising was the voice of Karl Rove, one of the chief
architects of Republican strategy over the last 30 years, who wrote in the
right-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial pages that there was no forgiveness
for the assault on democracy.
“There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no
absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow
our democracy. Love of country demands nothing less. That’s true patriotism,”
he wrote.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that
authorities have so far arrested and charged about 725 people in connection
with the attack, while asking for patience in work to untangle any deeper roots
of a conspiracy.
AFP
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