President Joe Biden continued his attacks on his chief political rival Donald Trump and his supporters Monday, likening them to “defeated Confederates.”
Biden spoke at a campaign event at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, the site of the 2015 race-fueled shooting that killed nine black members of the church. During his speech, Biden added to his criticism of Trump and his supporters, again suggesting that the former president poses a threat to “democracy” as the 2024 race for the White House heats up.
“After the Civil War, the defeated Confederates couldn’t accept the verdict of the war, they lost. So they say they embraced what is known as the lost cause, the self-serving lie that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states’ rights. They call that the noble cause. That was a lie,” Biden told the crowd of his supporters, adding, “So let me be clear, slavery was the cause of the Civil War. There is no negation about that.”
“Now, we’re living in an era of a second lost cause,” the president added. “Once again, there are some in this country trying to turn a loss into a lie. A lie which if allowed to live will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time the lie is about the 2020 election.”
Speaking from Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Biden draws a line through the "lost cause" campaign of post-Civil War confederates and the lies spread by MAGA Republicans following January 6th. pic.twitter.com/2AckmSBdf1
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) January 8, 2024
Biden then discussed the January 6, 2021, Capitol Riot, accusing Trump of “whipp[ing] up lies” for a “violent mob” that descended on the Capitol building.
“Let me say what others cannot: We must reject political violence in America. Always, not sometimes, always. It is never appropriate. The violence of January 6 was the extension of an old playbook from the threats of violence and intimidation,” Biden continued.
Biden’s South Carolina speech was attended by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a Biden campaign co-chair, who helped the president win the state in the 2020 Democratic primary and is playing a significant role in the president’s re-election campaign in the state. Clyburn told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he is “very concerned” about the president’s current standing with black voters.
“I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done,” Clyburn said. “My problem is that we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done. If you took the little simple thing [that is] student loan debt relief, he promised to relieve student loan debt, and he has done that.”
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During his speech on Monday, Biden also addressed conservative efforts across the country to remove books centered on LGBTQ issues and Critical Race Theory from public school shelves, telling the crowd that Trump supporters are “trying to determine to erase history and your future” and “destroying diversity, equality, and inclusion all across America,” as reported by CNN.
At one point during his speech, Biden was interrupted by anti-Israel protesters who began shouting, “Ceasefire now!” as the president spoke.
“I understand their passion,” Biden said in response to the demonstrators. “And I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.”
"Ceasefire now!"
Protesters interrupt President Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.
The audience chants: "Four more years!"
President Biden: "I understand their passion. I've been quietly working with the Israeli government…" pic.twitter.com/Vq3U01UhjW
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 8, 2024
Last Friday, Biden addressed a crowd near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, focusing on the third anniversary of the January 6 Capitol storming and celebrating the convictions of hundreds of Trump supporters. Trump slammed the president’s speech last week, calling it a “pathetic fearmongering campaign event.”
“Joe Biden is the worst president in the history of the United States — he is incompetent, he is crooked, and in many respects, he is Benedict Arnold,” Trump said. “He is destroying our country like no one else has done before.”