The New Year brought the third anniversary of Trump’s Failed Insurrection, with more retrospectives evoking memories of that day, when Donald Trump, in a Jan. 6 speech on the Ellipse, called upon his supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” to get Congress to reject the election returns. The resulting riot shattered the nation’s record of peaceful transfers of power.
Still, Trump and his accomplices for three years have been lying “bigly” about unfounded claims that the election was stolen by Joe Biden, despite 60 courts ruling there was no evidence of significant voting discrepancies that would change the election results. Since then, state and federal grand juries have indicted Trump on 91 felonies, but more Republicans find they can’t quit their cult leader, no matter how many felonies he may have committed trying to remain in the White House, or how many times he applauds dictators, and promises to be a force for retribution if he regains power.
A poll conducted for the Washington Post and the University of Maryland and publised Jan. 1 found more Republicans are sympathetic to those who stormed the Capitol and/or are likely to absolve Trump of responsibility for the attack than they were in 2021. The percentage of Republicans holding Trump responsible has fallen from 27% in December 2021 to only 14% in the poll taken Dec. 14-18, although 53% of US adults overall still believe Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol, as 56% of independents and 86% of Democrats blame Trump.
Republicans also have mellowed on the protesters, as only 18% said they were “mostly violent,” compared with 50% overall, including 54% of independents and 77% of Democrats.
Many said their views have changed because they now believe the riot was instigated by law enforcement to suppress political dissent — a baseless conspiracy theory that has been promoted heavily in right-wing media and by Trump in his speeches and in his legal fight against the four-count federal indictment he faces in D.C. federal court.
Some Democrats, nervous about polls that show Biden and Trump essentially tied, wish Biden would step aside and let a younger candidate take over as the Democratic candidate for president. But the incumbent has given no sign that intends to give up. Instead, Biden traveled to a college campus near Valley Forge, Pa., on Jan. 5 to warn voters that Donald Trump was a fundamental threat to democracy.
“Today we’re here to answer the most important of questions: is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” Biden said. “Today, I make this sacred pledge to you: the defense, protection and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.
“America, as we began this election year, we must be clear: democracy is on the ballot.”
Biden emphasized that Trump has made clear in his campaign that his “assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past—it’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s been straightforward. He’s not hiding the ball.”
“The guy who claims law and order stands for lawlessness and disorder,” he added. “Trump’s not concerned about your future, I promise you. Trump is now promising a full scale campaign of revenge and retribution, his words, for some years to come.”
Biden also warned that Trump has again refused to commit to respecting the results of the 2024 election.
“America, as we began this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot,” the president said. “Your freedom is on the ballot. Yes, we’ll be voting on many issues and the freedom to vote and have your vote counted. The freedom of choice. Freedom to have a fair shot. A freedom from fear. We will debate, disagree. Without democracy, no progress is possible.”
He added, ”Think about it: The alternative to democracy is dictatorship.”
Biden followed up Jan. 8 with a speech from the pulpit of Mother Emanuel AME Church, where in 2015 nine Black parishioners were shot to death by a White stranger they had invited to join their Bible study.
At Mother Emanuel, Biden said “the word of God was pierced by bullets of hate, of rage, propelled not just by gunpowder, but by a poison, a poison that has for too long haunted this nation.”
That’s “White supremacy,” Biden said, the view by some Whites that they are superior to other races. “It is a poison, throughout our history, that’s ripped this nation apart. This has no place in America. Not today, tomorrow or ever.”
Biden noted that, after the Civil War, the defeated Confederates couldn’t accept the verdict of the war, which they had lost. So they embraced what’s known as “the Lost Cause, a self-serving lie that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states’ rights. …
“Now … we’re living in an era of a second lost cause. Once again, there are some in this country trying ... to turn a loss into a lie — a lie, which if allowed to live, will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time, the lie is about the 2020 election, the election which you made your voices heard and your power known.”
Biden also took advantage of an interruption by an audience member who shouted, “If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine!” Other audience members chanted: “Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now!”
Biden replied, “I understand their passion. And I’ve been quietly working — I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. I’ve been using all that I can to do that,” followed by applause.
Biden has taken heavy criticism from Arab Americans and young Americans for his support of Israel after the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 civilians in Israel by Hamas terrorists. Many Palestinian supporters have said they couldn’t vote for Biden as they believe he implicitly supported Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bombing of Gaza that reportedly has killed tens of thousands of civilians. But the choice next November will be between Biden, who has counseled caution in the war against Hamas, and Trump, who has promised to deport Muslims from the US, put immigrants in concentration camps, and he undoubtedly would give Netanyahu a free rein in Gaza.
The choice in November 2024 will be democracy or fascism. Joe Biden has compiled an impressive progressive record in his first three years and he has restored the economy from the ravages of the COVID pandemic that Donald Trump mishandled. Trump promises vengeance against his political opponents, whom he has called “vermin,” and many of those “opponents” already have been threatened by Trump supporters.
Trump has gone full Fascist and he proposes to take the Republican Party with him. Republicans who follow Trump disgrace the memory of their fathers and grandfathers who fought and defeated the forces of fascism in World War II. — JMC
From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2024
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