You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t obey the law only when it’s convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.
President Joe Biden in his speech commemorating the first anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
It’s been one year since the deadly insurrection on the United States Capitol, and to commemorate the day, the President and Vice President delivered remarks on the democracy of the United States.
Their comments surrounded democracy in the United States, the essence and spirit of America— and Biden’s comments on the involvement of former president Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 attack.
Vice President Kamala Harris preceded President Joe Biden in their address to the country, livestreamed from the Capitol this morning. She recounted the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as a day that lives in infamy, much like Pearl Harbor and the terrorist attacks of September 11.
“There are certain dates that echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said. “Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001 and January 6th, 2021.”
She noted the importance of democracy in the United States and those that have worked to achieve and further it. She said that the people who attacked the Capitol last year were looking to destroy democracy in the United States.
“What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders, what they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is,” Harris said. “What they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed and shed blood to establish and defend. On Jan. 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful.”
“The strength of democracy is that it empowers the people,” Harris said. “And the fragility of democracy is that if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand.”
President Joe Biden began his remarks by commenting on the heroism of law enforcement during the attack, remembering the two officers that died from their injuries that day and American democracy moving forward.
“Outnumbered in the face of the brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the national guard and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law,” Biden said. “Our democracy held, we, the people endured. We, the people prevail.”
Much of Biden’s address was targeted at former president Trump and his supporters that attacked the Capitol, noting the failure of the attack and Trump’s defeat in the election.
“For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol,” Biden said. “But they failed. They failed. On this day of remembrance, let us make sure that such an attack never, never happens again.”
Biden said that Trump watched the attacks and did “nothing,” as law enforcement officials were attacked and governing officials, citizens and workers were put at risk.
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Biden’s remarks turned scathing as he addressed the involvement of Trump in the attack on the Capitol and his claims that he won the 2020 election.
“The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He’s done so because he values power over principle. Because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest. Because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. He can’t accept [that] he lost.”
Biden went on to call Trump a “defeated former president.”
“He’s not just a former president, he’s a defeated former president,” Biden said. “Defeated by a margin of over 7 million of your votes in a full and free and fair election. There is simply zero proof the election results are inaccurate.”
Both Harris and Biden made remarks regarding the soul and spirit of American democracy, saying the nation is at a turning point in its most divided time.
“I wonder, how will Jan. 6 come to be remembered in the years ahead?” Harris asked. “Will it be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest, greatest democracy in the world, or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come?”
Watch Biden’s Jan. 6 anniversary address here
