Biden speaks hard truths.

January 7, 2022

[Audio version here.]

          Twice during the first year of his presidency, Joe Biden has delivered speeches that matched the gravity and solemnity of occasions that will be marked as turning points in our nation’s history.  His Inaugural address was delivered from behind barricades still encircling the Capitol after the January 6th assault.  As the country struggled to comprehend the meaning of the insurrection, Biden invoked “our better angels” in a call for unity and healing.  At a turbulent moment, his address restored the dignity and stability necessary to the peaceful transfer of power.  Most importantly, he offered an olive branch when others might have sought retribution or vengeance.

          On the first anniversary of January 6th, Biden addressed a different threat.  The lies that motivated a small band of violent insurrectionists to attack the Capitol have taken root as the orthodoxy of the Republican Party. The president bided his time for a year, allowing the Republican Party the opportunity to recalibrate its moral compass.  Instead of ridding itself of the source of its sickness, the Republican Party tightly embraced a traitorous former president and his lies.  Many Americans grew restive in the face of unanswered slanders and attacks on democracy by the former president. Finally, on the first anniversary of January 6th, President Joe Biden confronted the defeated president and answered his lies.  It was worth the wait.

          President Biden’s speech on the first anniversary of January 6th will serve as the judgment of history on the moral collapse of the Republican Party, the treachery of the defeated president, and the threat they collectively pose to democracy.  Biden spoke hard truths that will offend many, including some who believe the better course is to bury the past and ignore the wound inflicted on democracy on January 6th.  The last year demonstrates the folly of further temporizing.

          If you have not read or viewed Biden’s speech in its entirety, you must.  In its most important passages, President Biden said:

This is about making sure the past isn’t buried.  That’s the only way forward.  That’s what great nations do.  They don’t bury the truth, they face up to it.

We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie.

And here is the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.  He’s done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.

You cannot love your country only when you win.  You can’t obey the law only when it is convenient.  You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.

          There is more in the speech that deserves your careful review.  Please make an effort to read it or watch it if you have not already done so.

          In speaking hard truths in plain language, President Biden chose a path fraught with peril.  His frank words will not pierce the hardened hearts and closed minds of those entangled in the web of lies spun by the defeated president.  Indeed, Biden’s hard truths may provoke them further.  But remaining silent for another three years would have been immeasurably worse—signaling weakness and surrender to the next coup that the GOP is plotting even today.  Instead, President Biden made clear that he would rally to the defense of democracy:

I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today, but I will not shrink from it either.

I will stand in this breach.  I will defend this nation.  And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy. 

We will make sure the will of the people is heard; that the ballot prevails, not violence; that authority in this nation will always be peacefully transferred.

          The times have found Joe Biden—and he has answered the call as few others could have.  Although he is not perfect and has struggled with the complicated political landscape he inherited, we are fortunate to have him as our president on the first anniversary of January 6th.

Republicans boycott events commemorating January 6th; Corporate America yawns.

          The House observed a moment of silence to commemorate the first anniversary of January 6th.  Except for Representative Liz Cheney and her father, Dick Cheney, not a single Republican could summon the humanity, decency, or courage to be present in the House to observe the moment of silence.  Business Insider, Liz and Dick Cheney Were the Only Republicans in the House Chamber to Mark the January 6th Anniversary.  The actions of the GOP members of the House are an affront to the rule of law, and their absence signals complicity in cynical efforts to revise history or extreme cowardice—or both.  

          As House Republicans hid from view, Fox News entertainers posing as journalists claimed that Democrats (and some Republicans) were exaggerating the events of January 6th.  See Insider, Tucker Carlson lashes out at Sen. Ted Cruz for calling January 6th ‘a violent terrorist attack’.  Of course, the Fox effort to minimize the events of January 6th contradicts the story told in real-time frantic texts from multiple Fox News anchors pleading with Trump to order his supporters to stop the attack.  See NPR,  Fox Anchors’ Texts With Mark Meadows Contrast With Network's Coverage.”

          On a day commemorating the victory of democracy over insurrection, the Republican Party made clear that it was not on the side of democracy.  It was a shameful demonstration of disloyalty to the Constitution they swore to protect and defend.  And yet, American businesses continue to fill the campaign coffers of the Sedition Caucus and Republicans who could not be bothered to commemorate the attack on the Capitol.  The New York Times has written about the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) report mentioned earlier this week in the newsletter.  NYTimes,   Companies Donated Millions to Those Who Voted to Overturn Biden's Win.

          Readers are sending me copies of their letters to the corporations still funding the Sedition Caucus.  One reader wrote to USAA, a company that provides insurance to military members and their families.  Excerpts are below to help inspire others to action.  I have edited the letter for brevity and to remove personal information:  

As lifelong USAA member, I appreciated your "We're Grateful for Your Loyalty" note today.  Several months ago, I contacted USAA in hopes that I would get a direct response from you regarding the $457,000 that USAA provided to Republicans who supported Trump's attempted coup.  I received a weak, unsatisfactory reply from your Director of Member Relations.  

Many corporations indicated they would no longer fund those in Congress who support Trump's Big Lie.  USAA has remained silent.  As a military member-based organization your silence makes you just as complicit as those who participated, and continue to participate, in the attempted coup to overturn our Democracy. . . . Honor your oaths to protect and defend the Constitution!

          It is clear that Republicans feel comfortable minimizing the events of January 6th as a mere “partisan squabble.” Until corporate America sends a strong message to Republicans that a functioning democracy serves as the infrastructure for the largest economy in the world, Republicans will continue to support the Big Lie through silence, evasion, or complicity.  We can put pressure on corporations as consumers and citizens who write editorials and letters to the editor in major media outlets.  If you can, help pressure corporate America to cut the life blood of the Republican Party: political donations ultimately funded by customers of corporate America.

Concluding Thoughts.

          I have been writing about the commemoration of January 6th for the last two weeks.  I have discussed what it means, how we should observe it, and how we should process it on an emotional level.  And yet, I found the first anniversary of January 6th to be a difficult day to endure.  I watched television coverage of the events until I could stand it no longer.  I acknowledge the mainstream media did an excellent job of reporting on the assault on the Capitol and discussing its implications.  But there are only so many times you can hear the phrases “threat to democracy” and “violent insurrectionists” and “Trump’s next coup” in the space of an hour before it starts to feel overwhelming.  I hope I have not added to that emotional burden in this newsletter.

          Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed, I do not feel dispirited.  I hear from dozens (sometimes hundreds) of readers every day who give me strength and fill me with hope.  I spent much of today planning the next two months of the Today’s Edition Podcast, lining up guests who are activists in every aspect of American democracy.  After I looked at the list, I was heartened to know that tens of thousands of citizen activists are rallying voters to action.  As mentioned before, I was so impressed by their efforts, I again felt like a slacker who could do more.

          The stories of the citizen activists are inspiring, and I invite you to listen.  I will be interviewing Jason Berlin over the weekend.  After Trump won, Jason quit his job in the entertainment industry and began volunteering full time to help flip the House in 2018.  After succeeding in that task, he founded Field Team Six (“Register Democrats, Save the World.”) Field Team Six now has chapters and partners in fifteen states.

          While most of us can’t quit our jobs to volunteer full time, the good news is that we don’t have to.  People like Jason Berlin have created volunteer opportunities for anyone who can spare a few hours.  Take Jason’s success story and multiply by ten thousand, and you will have a sense of the scale and reach of volunteer commitment going into 2022.  That fills me with hope, and it should do the same for you.  I have included a list of upcoming podcasts after my sign-off, below.

          It has already been an eventful week.  But we have one more day left, which may reveal that the Supreme Court is hostile to the federal government’s ability to impose national vaccine mandates.  The issue presents complicated legal questions, and the Court will likely use those complexities to invalidate vaccine mandates while blaming Congress for inaction.  So, steel yourself for a potentially bad outcome in that case.  (States and employers can still impose vaccine mandates, subject to certain exemptions.)

          That’s all for this week.  Relax and recharge over the weekend—and stay safe!

          Talk to you on Monday!

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• January 8th: Field Team 6, Jason Berlin

• January 15th: The Civics Center, Laura Brill

• January 22nd: Future Now / The States Project, Melissa Walker

• January 29th: TBA

• February 5th: Maya Maravilla, DNC Midwest Regional Desk for Civic Engagement and Voter Protection

• February 12th: New Faces of Democracy, Nancy Bynum

• February 19th: Ask Nurses & Doctors, Dr. Norbert Goldfield

• February 26th: TBA

• March 5th: Students for Justice, Claire Ullman & Sandy Radoff