The whole world watched in disbelief. And Trump did nothing.”
Here are the first words of Biden’s speech yesterday:
Today, the topic of my speech today is deadly serious and I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign.
In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks, to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire in existence in the world at the time. His mission was clear: liberty, not conquest. Freedom. Not domination. National independence. Not individual glory.
America made a vow: Never again would we bow down to a king.
Months ahead would be incredibly difficult. But General Washington knew something in his bones. Something about the spirit of the troops he was leading. Something, something about the soul of the nation he was struggling to be born. In his general order, he predicted, and I quote, with one heart and one mind, with fortitude and with patience, they would overcome every difficulty, the troops he was leading. And they did. They did.
This army that lacked blankets and food, clothes and shoes. This army, whose march left bloody bare footprints in the snow. This ragtag army made up of ordinary people.
Their mission, George Washington declared, was nothing less than a sacred cause. That was the phrase he used. A sacred cause. Freedom, Liberty. Democracy. American democracy.
I just visited the grounds of Valley Forge. I’ve been there a number of times since the time I was a Boy Scout years ago.
You know, it’s the very site that I think every American should visit, because it tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America.
Today, we gather in a new year, some 246 years later, just one day before January 6, a day forever seared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost America, lost it all.
Today, we’re here to answer the most important of questions. Is democracy still America’s sacred cause? I mean it.
This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time.
And it’s what the 2024 election is all about.
The choice is clear.
Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you.
Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.
Our campaign is different. For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America. It’s about you. It’s about every age and background that occupy this country.
It’s about the future we’re going to continue to build together. And our campaign is about preserving and strengthening our American democracy.
Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob stormed the United States Capitol. It was almost in disbelief as you first turned on the television.
For the first time in our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful transfer, transfer of power in America. First time.
Smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police.
Outside, gallows were erected as the MAGA crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”
Inside, they hunted for Speaker Pelosi. The House was chanting as they marched through and smashed windows, “Where’s Nancy?”
Over 140 police officers were injured.
Jill and I attended the funeral of police officers who died as a result of the events of that day.
Because of Donald Trump’s lies, they died because these lies brought a mob to Washington.
He promised it would be wild. And it was.
He told the crowd to “fight like hell” and all hell was unleashed.
He promised he would be side by side with them.
Then, as usual, he left the dirty work to others.
He retreated to the White House.
As America was attacked from within, Donald Trump watched on TV in a private, small dining room off my oval, off the Oval Office.
The entire nation watched in horror.
The whole world watched in disbelief.
And Trump did nothing.
Members of his staff, members of his family. Republican leaders who were under attack at that very moment pled with him.
Act. Call off the mob. Imagine had he gone out and said, “Stop.”
Still, Trump did nothing.
It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.
An attempt to overturn a free and fair election by force and violence.
There was much more to the speech than that but this was the essence. I know we have to talk about other things in the election, kitchen table issues, gas prices, school loans, Israel, etc. etc. But this is the central issue facing Americans in 2024. None of the rest of it will matter if we don’t get this right. And many, many, many more innocent people will suffer.
Here’s the whole speech if you didn’t get a chance to see it and you’d like to.