In a Tuesday speech in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden sounded a rhetorical alarm about efforts by Republican leaders to impose new restrictions around voting. Biden also addressed the lies that have been spread by prominent Republicans about the integrity of last year’s election, which Trump has consistently claimed was somehow rigged in favor of the Democrats. Both of these issues — the voter suppression and the election lies — represent serious threats to the foundation of democracy in the United States. Many Republicans are outright rejecting the democratic process as it currently exists in this country. That’s the reality of what they’re going after — democracy, as it stands today.
Shredding the election lies, Biden commented, in part, as follows:
‘With recount, after recount, after recount — court case after court case — the 2020 election was the most scrutinized election ever in American history. Challenge after challenge brought to local, state, and election officials, state legislatures, state and federal courts — even to the United States Supreme Court not once, but twice. More than 80 judges, including those appointed by my predecessor, heard the arguments. In every case, neither cause nor evidence was found to undermine the national achievement of administering this historic election in the face of such extraordinary challenges.’
Biden continued to address some of Trump’s post-election antics. Just this past weekend, at this year’s Dallas edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Trump insisted that there is “so much evidence” of systematic election fraud. In reality, every credible governmental authority has refuted him. He’s inept, out of his depth, and undermining democracy.
In contrast, Biden commented as follows:
‘In America, if you lose, you accept the results. You follow the Constitution. You try again. You don’t call facts fake and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you’re unhappy. That’s not statesmanship. That’s selfishness. That’s not democracy. It’s a denial of the right to vote. It suppresses, it subjugates — the denial of full, and free, and fair elections is the most un-American thing that any of us can imagine. The most un-democratic, the most un-patriotic — and it’s sadly not unprecedented.’
Listen to Biden’s remarks below:
"In America, if you lose, you accept the results, you follow the Constitution. You try again. You don't call facts fake and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you're unhappy. That's not statesmanship. That's selfishness." — Biden pic.twitter.com/oBlHWn6ect
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2021
Biden also addressed Republicans other than Trump. He insisted that “we’ll be asking my Republican friends in Congress and states and cities and counties to stand up, for God’s sake, and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote,” adding, addressing those Republicans directly: “Have you no shame?”
Check out those remarks below:
Biden: "We'll be asking my Republican friends in Congress and states and cities and counties to stand up for God's sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote. Have you no shame?" pic.twitter.com/GKzYH5EnUx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2021
Watch Biden’s full speech below:
