President Joe Biden attempted to make his case that democracy is at stake in the 2024 presidential election.
President Biden delivered his first campaign speech of the year near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. It's where George Washington rallied the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He noted that Washington was fighting for freedom and democracy.
"Today we are here to answer the most important of questions: Is democracy still America’s sacred cause?" President Biden stated. “This isn’t rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. It is what the 2024 election is all about.”
During the speech, which took place on the eve of the third anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, President Biden sharply criticized former President Donald Trump and his supporters for the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Trump's mob wasn't a peaceful protest," President Biden said. "It was a violent assault. They were insurrectionists, not patriots."
The insurrection delayed the Electoral College count. Biden would later be declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election that night.
In his speech, President Biden noted that Trump is trying to "steal history" by trying to convince Americans that what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, was not what people witnessed.
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“But now as time has gone on — politics, fear, money — have all intervened. And those MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump and Jan. 6 have abandoned the truth and abandoned our democracy," President Biden asserted.
Comparing the U.S. to other countries, President Biden noted what democracy does for Americans.
"Democracy is about being able to bring about peaceful change. Democracy is how we've opened the doors of opportunity wider and wider with each successive generation, notwithstanding our mistakes," President Biden said. "But if democracy falls, we'll lose our freedom."
President was very direct, calling Trump a "loser," adding that "You can't love your country only when you win."
Trump is the leading contender in the Republican race for president. However, no votes have been counted yet. Iowa will kick off the 2024 election cycle with caucuses on Jan. 15.
President Biden is facing primary challenges from Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips; however, the president is widely expected to represent the Democratic Party in the general election.
Polls show that the 2024 general election is likely going to be a rematch between President Biden and Trump, which is likely why he did not mention any of the other candidates.
“Donald Trump’s campaign is about him," Biden said. "Not America. Not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.”
Trump's first response came during a speech in Iowa later on Friday, where he rallied likely GOP caucusgoers.
"Ten days from now, the people of this state are going to cast the most important vote of your entire lives," Trump said.
He told his audience it was critical to turn out for the primary vote.
"Bad things happen when you sit back," he said.
Trump spent much of the speech attacking Biden, claiming without evidence that Biden is unfairly weaponizing the Justice Department in its investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump spoke one day before the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C., during which Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a bid to derail Congress' certification of the presidential election vote.
He characterized those who had been sentenced to prison following the riot as "hostages" and said their treatment would "go down as one of the saddest things in the history of our country."
