United States: America’s Democracy was assaulted in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. President Joe Biden repeatedly said, threatening the rights of Americans across the political spectrum.
But when Biden will mark three years since the insurgency on Saturday, it will not be as the incumbent president, who criticized “the former president” for his role in the event one year ago. It will be as a presidential contender, blaming – and almost certainly naming – Donald Trump as a central figure.
Campaign manager condemns “Revenge, Retribution, and Rebuke”
“On January 6, 2021, we witnessed a very different vision of America – one defined by revenge, retribution, and a rebuke of our very democracy,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, campaign manager for the Biden-Kamala Harris campaign, told reporters in a conference call Tuesday.
“This Saturday will mark the three-year anniversary of when – with encouragement from Donald Trump – a violent mob breached our nation’s Capital. It was the first time in our nation’s history that a president tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Not even during the Civil War did insurrectionists breach our Capitol. But at the urging of Donald Trump, insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, did.”
Biden’s Blunt Message from Valley Forger
The president will deliver his speech on Saturday afternoon near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, which is the site of a pivotal battle in the American Revolutionary War, and will speak “bluntly about what the 2024 election is going to be about,” Rodriguez said.
The first year following the insurgency, Biden remembered it at the Capitol, “this sacred place,” he said, where the country’s way of life and governance was endangered.
“The will of the people was under assault. The Constitution – our Constitution – faced the gravest of threats,” Biden said then.
On that day, he addressed the role of “the former president” several times but never mentioned Trump by name. Early in his administration, Biden avoided using the word “Trump” in public, a jab at a guy whose eponymous brand is central to his enterprises.
As the campaign heated up and the possibility of a Biden-Trump fight increased, Biden mentioned Trump more frequently. And it hasn’t been in a good way.
Evolution of Biden’s Stance on Trump
In recent months, Biden has been more forthright in his condemnation of Trump and his role in the January 6 attacks at private fundraisers. The announcement of Biden’s speech on Saturday took that line of attack to a new level, with the campaign depicting the insurgents as acting at “the urging of Donald Trump.”
Public Opinion and Legal Ramifications
According to a poll released this week by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland, a strong majority (55%) of Americans believe January 6 is “an attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” with 43 percent believing that “too much is being made of the storming of the United States Capitol” and that it is time to “move on.”
However, the study shows substantial ideological divides, with 18 percent of Republicans, 77 percent of Democrats, and 54 percent of independents saying those who entered the Capitol that day were “mostly violent.”
Trump’s actions that day were deemed to have “threatened democracy” by a slim majority of Americans (51%). A larger majority (58%) believed those who entered the Capitol that day posed a threat to Democracy.
Trump’s Response
The question is no longer just political; the Colorado Supreme Court and the secretary of state in Maine have both ruled that Trump is unable to be on the presidential primary ballots in those states due to his involvement in an insurgency.
The Colorado Republican Party has filed an appeal with the United States Supreme Court, while Trump has filed an appeal with a Maine state court. Trump will likely file an appeal with the Supreme Court this week in the Colorado case.