Biden Walks Line Between Persuasion, Fight In Jan. 6 Speech

TPM Article Topics
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President Biden’s speech commemorating the first anniversary of Jan. 6 this morning treaded a fine line: on one side, condemning and promising to fight a burgeoning anti-democracy movement committed to former President Trump.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1400158
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“You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said. “You can’t obey the law only when it is convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.”

Should be repeated by every decent leader in this country until those who participated are brought to account.

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Biden refused to call Trump by his name, instead referring to him as the “former president.”

“He can’t accept he lost,” Biden said, placing the emphasis on the final two words.

https://i.gifer.com/fyQN.gif

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Joe is an optimist. The seditionists are all saying, “I can do whatever I want! You’re not the boss of me! Liberal, commie, socialist vermin!”

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Republicans are outraged that PRESIDENT @JoeBiden profaned them by calling them Republicans.

— Geo Steve (@StephenGlahn) January 6, 2022
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Great speech. A version should have been given at the inauguration, but calling attention to all the disasters of TFG’s admin. It’s unnerving but perhaps not surprising that Trump’s clinging to this election fraud business is taking so much attention away from the actual criminal behavior, negligence, and destruction of his four years in office. Why aren’t any of them in jail?

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I’m not quite so sure about the “persuasion” part, as you cannot reason with a deplorable, but he hit a home run on the fight side. More please…

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Having some true believer relatives I don’t think any amount of persuasion will change their minds. They simply cannot be wrong.

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JFK said it all in one line. And that is not a criticism of Joe. But it always resonates. They need to use it a lot.

“You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said. “You can’t obey the law only when it is convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.”

These people are trying to take it all away from you. “These” implying the Trumpstersand grifters. This needs to be hammered over and over again. Every expectation the average citizen has in their life can be utterly destroyed if Trump and his supporters get their way. There will never be a normal again.

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ATTACK REVERBERATES
Only two Republicans were in the House during a moment of silence

And a nice summation from CNN:

  1. “What did we not see? We didn’t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television.”
  2. “A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.”
  3. “The big lie being told by the former president, and many Republicans who fear his wrath, is that the insurrection in this country actually took place on Election Day.”
  4. “Former president’s supporters are trying to rewrite history.”
  5. “The former president lost instead of looking at the election results from 2020.”
  6. “The former president and supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote.”
  7. “Second big lie being told by the former president’s supporters is that the results of the election of 2020 can’t be trusted.”
  8. “Every legal challenge questioning the results, and every court in this country, that could have been made was made and was rejected, often rejected by Republican appointed judges, including judges appointed by the former president himself.”
  9. “Even before the first ballot was cast, the former president was preemptively sowing doubt about the election results.”
  10. “He’s not just a former president…”
  11. “He’s a defeated former president.”
  12. “The former president failed to make his case.”
  13. “The former president and his supporters have never been able to explain how they accept as accurate the other election results that took place on November 3rd.”
  14. “The former president didn’t lose those races, he just lost the one that was his own.”
  15. “The third big lie being told by a former president and his supporters, that the mob who sought to impose their will through violence are the nation’s true patriots.”
  16. “The former president who lies about this election and the mob that attacked this Capitol could not be further away from the core American values.”
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I think this speech was aimed directly at Manchin and Sinema. He referenced the rational side of conservative politics, and contrasted that with the politics that these two, by their democratic obstruction, are directly enabling that will destroy our country. In all, it was a great speech, and long overdue. I just hope certain people are listening.

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I assume the speech was written with Manchin as its intended audience, with a subtext message of “Please grow a spine.”

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Biden struck a nerve.
Bigly.

TDADFG (The Disgraced And Defeated Former Guy) has cobbled together a word salad in response:

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When a large majority of this country thinks 1/6 was an assault on our democracy, is it really a good look for Republicans to not show up and pretend it didn’t happen? Most of them can’t win with their base alone.

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Dashed it off too fast to proofread it too. “America sees through theirs lies…”

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Notice he didn’t mention the stonk market or unemployment?

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He has to play one on TV. That’s the gig.

Hundreds upon hundreds of them are learning that DOJ is in fact “the boss of them.”

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I didn’t realize Dick Cheney was still mobile. (Reading the link you gave)

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Should be TDTBTIDFG. (The Disgraced Twice Bankrupted Twice Impeached And Defeated Former Guy )

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Charles Pierce says the speech was political and divisive, and Thank God it was.

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