WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — President Joe Biden delivered one of the most forceful speeches of his political career on Thursday morning at the U.S. Capitol, taking direct aim at former President Donald Trump, labeling him a ‘defeated former president’ and accusing him of inciting the deadly insurrection over a “web of lies” about the 2020 election.
Speaking from Statuary Hall on the anniversary of that riot, Biden did not hold back. He went after Trump without ever mentioning his name, saying the former president and his supporters “held a dagger at the throat of democracy.”
“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie,” Biden said. “A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest.”
“He can’t accept he lost,” Biden added.
Biden went through the numerous falsehoods that Trump and his allies have spread about the 2020 election bullet by bullet, correctly pointing out every attempt to overturn the election failed and Trump nor his allies have been able to find any proof for their claims.
“Even before the first ballot was cast, the former president was pre-emptively sowing doubt about the election results,” Biden said while leaning into the camera. “He’s not just a former president. He’s a defeated former president.”
Biden made clear Trump never attempted to stop his supporters from attacking police and other lawmakers, instead, he was watching it all unfold on TV from the White House.
“The former President and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win are to suppress your vote and subvert our elections. It’s wrong. It’s undemocratic. And frankly, it’s un-American,” he said.
Prior to Biden’s remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke and urged Congress to pass voting rights legislation.
“The work ahead will not be easy. Here in this very building, a decision will be made about whether we uphold the right to vote and ensure free and fair elections,” Harris said. “We must pass the voting rights bills that are now before the Senate.”
Both Biden and Harris will deliver remarks next week in Georgia on voting rights.
Trump had initially planned his own event on the day, a news conference at Mar-a-Lago to counterprogram the events at the U.S. Capitol. However, he released a statement to cancel the event, blasting the “total bias and dishonesty” from the media, and said he would give his speech at a rally in Arizona.
A poll from the Washington Post released last Saturday shows the majority of Americans say Trump is responsible or “bears a great deal” of responsibility for the attack despite Republicans and Democrats being divided over what truly happened that day.
Trump released a statement, falsely saying Biden “used my name today to try to further divide America. This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed.” However, Biden never uttered Trump’s name once, referring to him as the “former president”.
When asked by reporters why he didn’t mention Trump by name, Biden said he “did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president, it’s way beyond that.”
Biden closed his remarks by vowing to never stoop to the level Trump did and promised to always stand up to those who are trying to overthrow democracy.
“I will stand in this breach,” he said. “I will defend this nation. And I will allow anyone to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”
