In a recent interview with Spanish-language media, President Joe Biden deemed former President Donald Trump the biggest threat to democracy in the United States.
Both Biden and Trump are on track to participate in the general election later this year amid the unfolding presidential race, though there was almost never any real question about whether they’d be their respective political parties’ presumptive nominees for president. But now, they’ve both officially reached the level of support needed within Republicans’ and Democrats’ primary processes to formalize that status. All serious primary challengers to both left the races.
And on the campaign trail, Trump is making his support for Capitol riot defendants/detainees a big issue, getting behind groups that in reality perpetrated or helped provide the backdrop for devastating violence against police officers that also threatened government officials, Capitol staff, and others.
“The idea that he would sit in the office – and I’ll show you before you leave – off the Oval Office and watch for hours the attack on the Capitol, and the destruction and the mayhem and the people who were killed, the police officers who died, and call them political heroes, call them patriots, and saying that if he gets elected he’s going to free them all, because they’re being held illegally?” Biden posited to the interviewer. He’d been asked to name “the primary threat to freedom and democracy at home,” quickly identifying Trump by name.
Trump’s support of Capitol riot defendants is not a secret. While campaigning, he’s even featured a rendition of the national anthem sung by Capitol riot detainees in prison facilities within Washington, D.C., where large shares of those in custody were specifically charged with attacking police. (A frequently used charge specifically alleges assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.) Trump’s circles have highlighted D.C. facilities’ Capitol riot detainees before, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) even steering visits. Again, this is not subtle.
