President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Americans to denounce political violence and warned of the chaotic consequences that could result from empowering Republicans who’ve pledged not to recognise future election results if Democratic candidates prevail by electing them to gubernatorial and secretary of state positions in next week’s midterm elections.
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee event held at Washington’s Union Station, just blocks from where rioters assaulted police and stormed the inaugural stands erected outside the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, the president connected last week’s shocking assault on Paul Pelosi — the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — to the attack on the Capitol just under two years ago.
He noted that Mr Pelosi’s alleged assailant’s cries of “where’s Nancy?” echoed the same question asked by pro-Trump rioters as they stormed through the halls of Congress, and said both Mr Pelosi’s alleged attacker and the rioters had been “whipped up into a frenzy by a president repeating over and over again, the big lie that the election of 2020 had been stolen”.
Mr Biden said lies about the 2020 election had fuelled a “dangerous rise in political violence and voter intimidation” over the last two years that had affected both state officials and nonpartisan election workers.
“This intimidation, this violence against Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisan officials just doing their jobs, are the consequence of lies told for power and profit,” he said. “In this moment, we have to confront those lies with the truth. The very future of our nation depends on it”.
The president said the US is now “facing a defining moment” and called on Americans to “speak as a country and say there's no place for voter intimidation and political violence in America”
“Whether it's directed at Democrats or Republicans, no place, period. No place ever,” he said.
He also acknowledged that the 2022 midterms will be “first national election” since “an armed, angry mob” attacked the Capitol in hopes of preventing Congress from certifying his 2020 election victory. He will also say the attack on America’s democracy begun by that pro-Trump is still ongoing in other forms.
“ I wish I could say the assault on our democracy ended that day. But I cannot,” he said.
He pointed out that the rise in early voting over the last few years means it will take longer to count votes and come up with definitive results on election night next week, and the winners of some elections may not be known for “a few days”.
“It's always been important for citizens in a democracy to be informed and engaged. Now it's important for citizen to be patient as well. That's how it's supposed to work,” he said.
Continuing, Mr Biden warned that there are candidates currently standing for “every level of office in America” who will refuse to “commit to accepting the results of the elections they're in”.
“That is the path to chaos in America. It's unprecedented. It's unlawful. And, It is un-American,” he said, adding that Americans must “think long and hard” about “the moment” the country is currently in when they go to the polls next week.
“In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk, but we are this year,” he said, adding that over 300 “election deniers” are standing for office in the midterm elections.
While the president was blunt about the causes of the spate of political violence the US has seen in recent months, he said the people excusing it or calling for it are a “distinct minority” in the country.
He called on pro-democracy voters and those who reject violence to be “more determined” than those who would excuse the attack on Mr Pelosi.
“I believe that the overwhelming majority of American people, all of us, want you to make it absolutely clear that violence and condition have no place in America,” he said.
