Commentary

If President Biden can give his remarks on the anniversary of the January 6 riot at the Nation’s Capitol a day early, I can publish my commentary a day after.

I was listening to the president speak while I was working on a piece covering another topic I’ll publish later.  His speech to an audience of about 400 people in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania was billed as his first campaign speech.

After a brief opening about Gen. George Washington at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777, fighting for a sacred cause – freedom, liberty, democracy, he quickly transitioned into remembering January 6, with the preposterous statement “we nearly lost America … lost it all.”

He spoke of “insurrectionists (who) had come to stop the peaceful transfer – transfer of power in America – first time – smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking police.”

Allow me to remind you that an “insurrection” is a violent uprising against a government or other established authority.  The FBI has determined that “there was no grand scheme” to overthrow the government, and no one was charged with insurrection. They were not armed with guns and posed no real threat.

Unlike the violent riots that swept Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis in the previous summer, causing some $2 billion in property damage to government and privately owned buildings while claiming more than 20 lives, there was minimal damage to the Capitol building and the only person killed was an unarmed Trump supporter who was shot unnecessarily by a Capitol Police lieutenant.

One would think that the president would use this campaign event to tout his accomplishments and his plans for the future, but he has none.  Instead, his speech was all about the threat of risking our democracy with another Donald Trump presidency.

So, while Biden complained that, “Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you, why did he mention Trump by name 44 times in what was billed as his campaign speech?

In addition to the effort by his supporters to keep Trump off ballots while he speaks about our freedoms and democracy, his supporters are also  disenfranchising voters by attempting to keep his Democrat opposition off ballots – Robert F. Jennedy Jr., Marianne Williamson, and Dean Phillips.

I’m looking forward to the Iowa caucuses on January 15.  We’ll see if former President Trump’s huge lead holds against candidates DeSantis and Haley, who have expended a great deal of effort to win over Iowans.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.