Biden attacks Trump, MAGA Republicans as a threat to democracy in blistering speech
Written by ABC AUDIO on September 2, 2022
“Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win, or they were cheated,” Biden said in remarks in Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden accused former President Donald Trump and his supporters of promoting an extreme ideology that threatens democracy in rare prime-time remarks Thursday as he stepped up attacks on conservatives ahead of the midterm elections.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said in the speech from the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
He accused so-called “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, of refusing to recognize free and fair elections, increasingly talking about violence in response to actions they don’t like, and of being determined to thwart “the will of the people.”
“MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies,” Biden said.
Ahead of the remarks, a senior administration official insisted that it was “not a speech about a particular politician, or even about a particular political party.” Biden said he didn’t believe the ideology he was referring to represented that of most Republicans, although it has been embraced by a number of elected Republican officials.
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“Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans,” Biden said. “But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.”
“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us,” Biden said.
Biden laid into those who have embraced Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged and sought to disrupt the coming 2022 elections, calling the belief a threat to the fundamentals of American democracy.
“Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win, or they were cheated,” Biden said. “And that’s where the MAGA Republicans are today.”
Republicans offered their own retort ahead of Biden’s speech. Appearing hours earlier in Biden’s hometown, Scranton, Pennsylvania, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., accused the president of being divisive and called on him to apologize for labeling Trump supporters as “semi-fascists” at a recent campaign event.
