Watch Live: President Biden Marks Jan-6 Anniversary (By Calling Trump A Threat To Democracy & Freedom)
President Biden's first major campaign event of 2024 is set to take place in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. The president intends to persuade the American people - in a speech - that former President Trump, his most likely presidential election opponent, is a threat to democracy.
Biden is expected to speak at Montgomery County Community College, about 15 miles from the Revolutionary War encampment of Valley Forge, on Friday afternoon, one day before the third anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot.
Biden's aides told Reuters that the speech's theme will be about "preserving democracy."
Another aide told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce that the president worked very hard crafting his speech after meeting with historians and scholars at the White House this week.
The president is expected to call Trump and MAGA Americans 'far-right extremists' and a genuine threat to the freedoms on which the country was founded.
The Biden-Harris campaign said Montgomery County Community College is a "stone's throw" away from the Revolutionary War encampment of Valley Forge. This is where then-General George Washington, leading the Continental Army, "transformed a disorganized alliance of colonial militias into a cohesive coalition united in their fight for our democracy" 250 years ago.
"This Saturday will mark the three-year anniversary of when, with encouragement from Donald Trump, a violent mob breached our nation's Capitol," Biden campaign manager Julie-Chavez Rodriguez told reporters earlier.
Rodriguez continued, "It was the first time in our nation's history that a president tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power."
"Let's all take a moment to sit with the gravity and significance of the moment we're all living through," Biden communications director Michael Tyler told reporters later.
Tyler added: "The leading candidate of a major party in the United States is running for president so that he can systematically dismantle and destroy our democracy."
Whether the Biden-Harris campaign's big bet - to come out swinging and label Trump and MAGA Americans a "threat to democracy" - in a politically polarized country - pays off - remains to be seen in a period where polling data for the president remains dismal.
The latest polling figures from Gallup show Biden's year-end approval rating is worse than any other modern-day president.
Meanwhile, Trump holds a marginal, two-point lead over Biden, 38% to 36%, with 26% of respondents not sure who they will vote for, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.
And the bookies have it in favor of Trump...
Democrats have abandoned the failed 'Bidenomics' narrative for now and are pushing Trump as a "threat to democracy" narrative.
Here's Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.'s latest piece in The Atlantic:
The threat to our democracy is real, present, and urgent. The parable of January 6 reminds us that our precious democratic institutions are only as strong as the courage and commitment of those entrusted with their care. We all share a responsibility to preserve American democracy, which Lincoln called "the last best hope of earth."
While Democrats flood the internet with mindless propaganda about Jan. 6, we are offering readers a balanced debate tomorrow evening with Alex Jones, Darren Beattie, Glenn Greenwald on one side, and Ed and Brian Krassenstein, as well as YouTuber "Destiny" on the other.
We hope to get closer to the truth of what happened on that day.
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