The president of United States, Joe Biden, on Thursday blamed former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) for creating a “web of lies” regarding the 2020 elections and inciting his followers to storm the Capitol a year ago.
“His wounded ego matters more to him than our democracy and our Constitution. He cannot accept that he lost”, Biden said in a speech from the Capitol on the first anniversary of the attack that left 5 dead and 140 officers wounded.
Although he did not mention Trump by name, Biden dhe edited a good part of his speech to criticize his predecessor, who just before the assault on January 6, 2021, encouraged his followers – gathered in Washington – to march towards the Capitol and “fight” to prevent the electoral result from being endorsed.
“The former president of the United States of America has created and disseminated a web of lies regarding the 2020 elections. He has done it because he values power more than principle, “said Biden.
He denounced that Trump and his allies have decided that “The only way to win for them is to suppress the vote and subvert the elections”, in a context of growing reforms at the state level that, in practice, promise to make it difficult for minorities and people with fewer economic resources to vote.
“You cannot love our country only when you win. You cannot obey the law only when it suits you. You cannot be patriotic when you embrace the lies and allow them “, added. Visibly irritated, the president insisted that there is “zero evidence” of allegations of electoral fraud that Trump released following the 2020 elections and that have caused the majority of Republican voters to still not believe that Biden will legitimately win the election.
“He is not just a former president. He is a defeated former president, by a margin of more than 7 million of his votes, in a full, free and fair election“, he stressed.
Biden promised to remain alert to the possibility that the Republican opposition might try to turn around a possible result that does not favor them in the next electoral cycles: the legislative cycles of November of this year and the presidential ones of 2024.
“I will defend this nation. I will not let anyone put a dagger to the throat of democracy,” he stressed. He insisted that “the promise of democracy is at risk” both in U.S as in the world, where, in his opinion, an ideological battle is being waged once morest the “autocracies” from countries like China and Russia.
Biden’s speech came following a shorter one from the US vice president, Kamala Harris, and before a series of events began in Congress within a day of reflection on the anniversary of the assault.
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