Days before the 2022 midterm elections come to a close, President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to those who have yet to cast their ballots, saying that U.S. democracy itself is on the line.
Biden spoke on Wednesday night at Union Station in Washington D.C. during a political event hosted by the Democratic National Committee. In his speech, he told Americans they cannot “take democracy for granted any longer,” and tied the protection of democratic rights to voting against candidates who have not committed to accepting the election results.
The president spoke about the rise of incendiary rhetoric and violence among the right, which puts politicians, poll workers and everyday citizens at risk.
“This intimidation, this violence against Democrats, Republicans, and nonpartisan officials just doing their jobs is the consequences of lies, told for power and profit,” Biden said.
Biden also referred directly to his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, tying his refusal to accept the 2020 presidential election results to attacks on democracy in the U.S.
“American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refused to accept the results of the 2020 election…He refuses to accept the fact that he lost,” Biden said.
Although only a minority of voters buy into Trump’s claims of election fraud and refuse to acknowledge Biden’s win, their beliefs have far-reaching consequences, the president explained.
“I believe the voices excusing or calling for violence and intimidation are a distinct minority in America. But they’re loud and they are determined,” he said.
Biden added:
There are candidates running for every level of office in America — for governor, for Congress, for attorney general, for secretary of state — who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections they’re in. That is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And it is un-American.
Biden also referenced the attack last week on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) husband, Paul Pelosi, who was severely injured with a hammer during a home invasion. The intruder reportedly believed many of the false conspiracy theories being pushed by Trump and others on the far right, and repeatedly asked “Where’s Nancy?” during the attack.
“We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the ballot box,” Biden said.
Biden asked the American people to consider the consequences of electing far right Republicans with anti-democratic views to positions of power. Those Republicans will “succeed where they failed in 2020” if they win this year’s midterms, Biden warned, “suppress[ing] the right of voters and subvert[ing] the electoral system itself” once in power.
The president also criticized conservative politicians and media for not doing enough to dispel disinformation. “Silence is complicity,” Biden said.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy