"The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.”
The United States of America has reached a point wherein the gulf between Republicans and Democrats is at a point where building a bridge also seems like a daunting task. While the news media’s divisive reportage and the emergence of social media deserve credit for this, politicians must not be forgotten.
At the very centre of the recent drama is the contentious and most unconventional former US president, Donald Trump. Unable to accept his defeat during the 2020 elections, Trump went on to spread ‘misinformation’ about the nature of the elections, openly implicating democrats for having rigged the elections.
The resentment and anger bubbling inside Trumps’s army of followers saw its outburst on the 6th of January, 2021 during the infamous Capitol Riots.
On the first anniversary of the violent storming, President Joe Biden addressed the series of events that led to the upheaval in the first place. "We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. Here's the truth: A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle," Biden said. "He can't accept he lost."
Research has indicated that election fraud is very rare in the USA and in light of that, Biden stated that a claim of this kind could potentially subvert future US elections. However, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, 55% of Republicans believe Trump’s claims despite them being proved wrong by several courts of law.
Seeing this as a clear threat to democracy, President Biden also said “This was an armed insurrection," Biden said in his speech from Statuary Hall inside the Capitol.
"For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power," Biden said. "They came here in rage," he added, and "held a dagger at the throat of America."
"I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy." Biden firmly stated during his speech from Statuary Hall inside the Capitol.
His speech raised a pertinent question, keeping in mind the unrest that the United States has witnessed over the last two years: "Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm?"
His speech was followed by one by Vice President Kamala Harris and a prayer vigil.