President Joe Biden made highly controversial remarks during a fiery speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday about voting rights.
Biden’s remarks were full of incendiary claims, including that Georgia’s new election laws were “racially discriminatory,” an allegation that he offered no evidence to support.
Biden made the remarks while also claiming, “We’re going to face another test in 2022, a new wave of unprecedented voter suppression, and raw and sustained election subversion.”
At one point, Biden claimed that the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, would be “dismantling” “racially discriminatory” laws, though he failed to specify how.
“For example, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced for the United States Department of Justice is going to be using its authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights in old and new ways. The focus will be on dismantling racially discriminatory laws, like the recent challenge to Georgia’s vicious anti-voting law.”
Biden calls Georgia's voting laws "vicious" and "racially discriminatory." pic.twitter.com/BPAyXUqF39
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 13, 2021
Biden targeted Texas, specifically.
“In Texas, for example, Republican-led state legislature wants to allow partisan poll watchers to intimidate voters and imperil and impartial poll workers,” Biden claimed.
“They want voters to [inaudible] further and be able to be in a position where they wonder who’s watching them and intimidating them, to wait longer to vote, to drive a hell of a lot long–, excuse me, a long way to get to vote,” he said. “They want to make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope the people don’t vote at all. That’s what this is about. This year alone, 17 states have enacted, not just proposed, but enacted 28 new laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, not to mention, and catch this, nearly 400 additional bills, Republican members of the state legislatures are trying to pass. The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It’s unrelenting. We’re gonna challenge it vigorously.”
President Biden peddles the lie that Texas Republicans want to ensure they can send their people to the polls to intimidate voters (read: Black people) and prevent them from receiving ballots. pic.twitter.com/7uDLAYa19E
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2021
“While this broad assault against voting rights is not unprecedented, it’s taking on new and literally pernicious forms. It’s no longer just about who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible voters to vote, it’s about who gets to count the vote,” Biden claimed. “Who gets to count whether or not your vote counted at all. It’s about moving from independent election administrators who work for the people to polarized state legislatures and partisan actors who work for political parties.”
“To me, this is simple. This is election subversion,” Biden added. “It’s the most dangerous threat to voting in the integrity of free and fair elections in our history. Never before [inaudible] decided who gets to count, count what votes count. Some state legislators want to make it harder for you to vote. And if you vote, they want to be able to tell you your vote doesn’t count for any reason they make up. They want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate loses. And they’re trying, not only targeting people of color, they’re targeting voters of all races and backgrounds. Just with a simple target, who did not vote for them? That’s the target.”
President Biden, sounding like Joy Reid here as he claims:
– Republicans want to throw out ballots for people who vote Democratic (and allow for the GOP to win every election)
– In non-Democratic areas, Dems will always lose.
– The GOP = the Kremlin
– The GOP likes dictators pic.twitter.com/DTv2PA5NXS— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2021
He then blasted Republicans for attempting to “suppress and subvert the right to vote” with vote security laws.
“There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, and assault on who we are, who we are as Americans, for make no mistake, bullies and merchants of fear, peddlers of lies, are threatening the very foundation of our country,” Biden claimed.
“It gives me no pleasure to say this. I never thought my entire career I’d ever have to say. But, I swore an oath to you, to God, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. That’s an oath that forms a sacred trust, to defend Americans to all threats, both foreign and domestic,” he added, with emphasis on “domestic,” implying Republican efforts to secure elections are akin to domestic terrorism.
“The assault on free and fair elections is just such a threat. Literally. I’ve said it before. We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. It’s not hyperbole, since the Civil War,” he said, turning his attention to the January 6th Capitol riot and comparing rioters to the Confederate Army. “The Confederates back then, never breached the Capitol, as insurrectionists did on January the 6th. I’m not saying this to alarm you. I’m saying this because you should be alarmed. I’m also saying this. There’s good news. It doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be, for real. We have the names.”
Biden painting his opponents as terrorists: "There's an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty. An assault on who we are." pic.twitter.com/uB7SORubzR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2021
Biden says Trump supporters are worse than slave-owning Confederates: "We are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That's not hyperbole…The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did"
You CAN oppose HR1 & 1/6… pic.twitter.com/Jz8z95owPR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2021