WASHINGTON – Days before the midterm elections, President Joe Biden amplified his argument that democracy itself is at stake, warning in a speech Wednesday evening that the United States is “on a path to chaos” amid growing fears of political violence.
Speaking at a train station just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, Biden reminded Americans that next week’s election will be the first since a violent mob stormed the seat of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021 – a horde that was "whipped up into a frenzy," he said, by former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election.
"I wish I could say the assault on our democracy ended that day,” Biden said. “But I cannot.”
Candidates are running for every level of office – for Congress, governor, attorney general, secretary of state – who refuse to commit to accepting the election results if they lose, Biden said.
“This is the path to chaos in America," he said, standing in front of eight American flags. "It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American. As I’ve said before, you can’t love your country only when you win."
Concerns about political violence have increased in advance of the Nov. 8 election and after an intruder attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, with a hammer in their San Francisco home last Friday.
Biden began his 20-minute address by detailing the assault on Pelosi's husband and noting that the assailant's words – "Where is Nancy" – were the same words chanted by the mob in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Americans must speak "with one overwhelming, unified voice" and make clear there is no place for voter intimidation or political violence in America, Biden said.
"We don't settle our differences with a riot, or a mob, or a bullet, or a hammer," he said. "We settle them peaceably at the ballot box."
White House aides and Democratic Party officials said Biden decided to make his speech to address the threat of election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in voting and democracy.
"The idea that you would use violence to further your political means, it's something that unites almost all Americans and that we can all be united against," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Biden chose the venue – Union Station, a major transportation hub – for his speech because it’s near the Capitol, "where there was an attempt to subvert our democracy," White House senior adviser Anita Dunn said in announcing the event during a live Axios interview earlier Wednesday.
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Focus on election deniers
In warning about the dangers of election deniers, Biden blamed Trump's lies that the 2020 election was stolen for fueling much of the anger that Americans are confronting.
"Extreme MAGA Republicans" – a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan – are a minority but the "driving force" of the Republican Party, Biden warned. One of their aims, he said, is to to question not only the legitimacy of past elections, but elections being held now and into the future.
They are "trying to succeed where they failed in 2020, to suppress the right of voters and subvert the electoral system itself," Biden said.
"We can't allow this sentiment to grow," he said. "We must confront it head on now. It has to stop now."
Biden also condemned what he called "an alarming rise" in the number of people condoning political violence, "trying to explain it away" or simply remaining silent.
"Silence is complicity," he said.
Republicans fired back by accusing Biden of demonizing and smearing Americans.
"President Biden is trying to divide and deflect at a time when America needs to unite -because he can’t talk about his policies that have driven up the cost of living," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wrote on Twitter. " The American people aren’t buying it."
More than 340 candidates who will be on the ballot Nov. 8 have expressed false claims that the 2020 election was flawed, according to the Brookings Institution. All are Republicans.
The biggest danger to democracy that researchers found is potential changes in who can certify elections, taking it out of the hands of certified electoral officials.
“This is extraordinarily dangerous,” said Brookings senior fellow Elaine Kamarck.
On the ballot:Hundreds of elections deniers running for office nationwide in 2022 pose 'major threat' to U.S. democracy
An overwhelming 85% of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about democracy's future, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll conducted in late October.
Those who say they are "very worried" include 67% of Republicans, 55% of Democrats and 51% of independents.
The nature of those concerns differ and sometimes conflict.
In follow-up phone interviews with those who were surveyed, Republicans tended to express concern about Democrats being able to cast fraudulent ballots. Democrats tended to express concern about results being misrepresented or overturned by Republican officials responsible for counting them.
Battle for the soul of the nation'
Biden's remarks weren't the first time he has warned that democracy is under attack. But they did represent a darker, more urgent message with the midterms just a week away.
Biden framed his 2020 presidential bid as a “battle for the soul of the nation.” He returned to that theme in a September speech outside Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, known as the birthplace of American democracy and where Biden launched his 2020 presidential campaign.
He accused Trump and "MAGA Republicans" of representing "an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic."
Witness testimony:Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes typed message to Trump after Jan. 6
Unlike Republicans, who have focused relentlessly on economic and public safety issues in their campaign messages, Democrats have talked about a variety of issues. During a Florida trip Tuesday, Biden emphasized the differences between the parties on Social Security and Medicare. When he visits New Mexico on Thursday, the president will tout his actions to forgive up to $20,000 of student loan debts. Republican-led states are among the critics suing to stop that effort.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, complained about his party’s messaging in a CBS interview that aired Tuesday.
“We're getting crushed on narrative,” Newsom said on the "CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell." “We're going to have to do better in terms of getting on the offense and stop being on the damn defense.”
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