At the beginning of August the president of USA, Joe Bidenheld a two-hour private meeting at the White House with a group of historians. Much of the conversation focused on the contrast between democratic values and institutions and the trends toward autocracy that are intensifying globally. At that meeting, the academics also raised voices of alarm about the state of the democracy within USAdrawing parallels with the threats he experienced before the civil war and when the fascist movement took hold before World War II.
They are alarms that Biden has long incorporated into his speech, both as a presidential candidate and later in the Oval Office. He has repeatedly spoken of the “fight for the soul of the nation & rdquor;, a phrase precisely inspired by a book by one of his reference historians, Jon Meachan. He also recovered it on the first anniversary of the storming the capitol. And this Thursday he will take up the message in a speech to the country in prime time from outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, an extremely symbolic stage. It is the place where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed (and also, in yet another reminder of the complex reality of US history, where Blacks trying to flee the South were kept imprisoned only to be returned to slavery). ).
election campaign
Although it is a speech to the nation, and it is not an official campaign act, it is impossible to isolate it from the political moment. The Parliamentary election in which the control of the Congress and where the party in power is traditionally punished, they are held in just over two months, on November 8. And despite the fact that precisely because of this format of speech to the nation, the Democrat may seek above all a lofty and constructive oratory, he has found the formula to unequivocally include a clearly electoral message, both to highlight the legislative achievements harvested especially in the last months as a sign that democracy and government they can function as to signal the opposition. “He will talk about the progress we have made as a nation to protect our democracy and how our rights and freedoms remain under attack& rdquor ;, a source from the Administration has advanced. “And it will make clear who is fighting for those rights, for those freedoms and for our democracy.”
The White House deliberations are still debating whether Biden will directly mention the name of donald trump, something he did not do on the anniversary of the assault on the Capitol, when he accused him of “putting a dagger in the throat of democracy & rdquor ;. What is certain is that he will make a forceful denunciation of the Republican Partynot only for continuing to accept and nurture the “big lie” about him non-existent fraud in the presidential elections that Trump encourages, but also because of a radical and extremist agenda that affects and threatens from voting rights to abortion or weapons.
In the last week Biden has already stepped up that direct attack. He did it on Tuesday in his speech on the weapons (which also happened in Pennsylvania, a key swing state and where one of the races is open that can help the Democrats maintain control of the Senate). And she did it last Thursday at a rally in Maryland, where he said many in the GOP are turning to “semi-fascism & rdquor; and denounced that “Trump and the Republicans MAGA (the acronym in English for the slogan “Make America Great Again & rdquor 😉 have chosen to go backwards full of anger, violence, hatred and division & rdquor ;. “They have accepted the political violence and they do not believe in democracy & rdquor ;, he declared.
Polarization and violence
The specter of violence in the US is not something that Biden is agitating, but has been settling for some time in a country that has been especially polarized since the irruption of the trumpism. A poll this week showed that 43% of Americans see “likely & rdquor; unleash one civil war in the next decade. And the inflammatory rhetoric from the extremes of the conservative movement has intensified.
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It has done so especially after the FBI search on August 8 at Trump’s residence in Sea-to-Lake. Politicians and influential media and ideological figures have made open calls for the “war”. And the threats that have now been raised to agents of the FBI they are added to those that had already been fired for judges, teachers or electoral positions.
This Sunday, in controversial statements, Senator Lindsay Graham warned that if Justice imputes the former president for the irregular handling of classified documents or obstruction there will be “riots in the streets”. and his own Trumpwho continues to spread conspiratorial ideas, on Monday asked that his electoral defeat be annulled.