“I will not allow anyone to put a dagger to the throat of democracy”, and above all Donald Trump with his “web of lies”, he affirmed this Thursday Joe Biden in a combative speech a year after the seizure of the Capitol from the United States.
The Democratic president, who is usually affable, adopted a serious tone to speak from the imposing “room of statues” of the headquarters of Congress, where on January 6, 2021, the supporters of Trump.
In a Capitol under close police protection, and almost without the presence of his Republican opponents, Biden not once did he name who he called “the former president” or “the losing former president,” a formula that is likely to infuriate the Republican millionaire.
The 79-year-old Democrat launched a full-blown verbal attack on his predecessor accusing him of having “tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power” during the “armed insurrection” of January 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the headquarters of the US legislature to try to prevent congressmen from certifying elections.
Trump “He has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 elections and has done so because he values power over principle, because he puts his own interest before the interest of his country” and because “his wounded ego matters more to him than our own. democracy, “said Biden, who had never attacked him head-on in this way.
Donald Trump responds to Biden accusations
Response from Trump Do not be late. The tycoon considered that the speech of his successor, which suffers a strong deterioration of popularity among the public opinion, was a “political theater” destined to divert attention from his “failure”. And once again he repeated, without proof, that the elections were “rigged.”
The president “used my name today to try to further divide America,” Trump said in a statement. “This political theater is only to distract from the fact that Biden has completely and totally failed,” he added.
Trump, who earlier this week canceled a planned anniversary press conference, repeated that the presidential election was “rigged.”
“You just have to look at the numbers, they speak for themselves,” said the former president.
“They are not justifiable, which is why complicit media simply call it the Big Lie, when in reality the Big Lie was the choice,” he added.
The allegations of electoral fraud made by Trump they have been rejected, one after another, by the authorities of the states where the contested vote was held, the Department of Justice and the US courts.
“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as the norm? (…) Are we going to be a nation that does not live in the light of the truth but in the shadow of the lie?” Biden wondered.
“We cannot afford the luxury of becoming that kind of nation,” he said, estimating that the United States is waging, inside and outside its borders, a “struggle” between democracy and autocracy.
“I did not seek this battle,” acknowledged Biden, when according to a recent poll only 55% of Americans think their choice is legitimate.
Dagger to the throat “
“I will not allow anyone to put a dagger to the throat of democracy,” warned the Democrat.
When journalists asked him if he was not afraid to further strengthen the antagonisms with this virulent speech, the president replied: “When we want to heal, we must recognize the seriousness of the wound.”
In the same solemn ceremony in the Capitol, the vice president, Kamala HarrisHe called “to unite in defense” of democracy, because “the American spirit has been put to the test.”
The speech of Biden marks a break, as if he had chosen to be more combative. Until now he had treated Trump and his most staunch followers, betting on pragmatism and an ambitious program of economic reforms to reconcile Americans.
But reconciliation seems far away. The popularity of Biden It has collapsed due to, among other things, rising inflation and widespread exhaustion in the face of an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. And the anniversary of January 6, far from being a moment of national unity, crystallizes political fractures.
Trump He canceled a press conference scheduled for this Thursday from his Florida mansion, but the statements of Republican leaders show to what extent he continues to influence the party.
The head of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, will not be present at the ceremonies in Washington. And that he was one of the few to mention a “moral responsibility” of the former president in the events of January 6.
It issued a statement Thursday accusing Democrats of “exploiting” this anniversary “to further partisan political goals.”
The most ardent defenders of Trump they raised their voices. The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, considered, for example, that the commemorations planned in Congress, with a Democratic majority, were “nauseating.”
Few, like Republican Senator Mitt Romney, dared to condemn the assault on the Capitol outright.
“We are putting ourselves in danger by ignoring the lessons of January 6. Democracy is fragile, it cannot survive without leaders of integrity and courage who are more concerned with the strength of our Republic than with winning the next elections,” he wrote.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx