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Graham Slams Biden, Harris' Jan. 6 Speeches, Says We're in 'Most Dangerous Times Since the Late '30s'

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Jan. 6, 2022, should have been a solemn moment about the Capitol incursion one year beforehand — but one which sought to heal and put the events of that day in perspective. Yes, the actions of those involved was rebarbative and abhorrent to those who appreciate democracy and law and order. But it wasn’t an immanent threat to democracy, nor was it an insurrection. Those messages could have co-existed.

They didn’t. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris  — the two most visible Democrats to speak on Thursday — used the moment as a paid political advertisement where they peddled fear and loathing of the other side of the aisle. And, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, they did it to distract from the fact Democratic policies have been a dismal failure in the year since the party took control of the White House and both houses of Congress.

According to the Daily Wire, Graham — speaking on John Catsimatidis’ syndicated radio show on Sunday — said the condition of the country was so bad that we were in the “most dangerous times since the late ’30s,” during the Great Depression.

(The Biden administration would rather focus on fear than inflation, jobs, unease at home and instability abroad, however. At The Western Journal, we set the narrative straight by focusing on the White House’s real record every day. You can help us by subscribing.)

Graham — who was there on the day of the incursion — didn’t downplay the severity of the riot. “Those who defiled the Capitol [and] took the law into their own hands … I hope they get prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said, adding it was a “dark day for America, and I hope they get prosecuted.”

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“But the speech that President Biden gave … on Thursday was awful,” Graham said. “He had a chance to talk about how democracy works, how the system worked. We need not let this happen again, praise those officers who fought back, condemn the attack and try to bring the country together.”

Instead: ““It was an effort on his part, and the vice president’s, to create a brazen political moment, to try to deflect from their failed presidency. It was an effort to push the passage of federal legislation to take over the states’ voting system, which has got nothing to do with Jan. 6.

“So I was really disappointed in the tone of the president and the vice president — of the politicized Jan. 6,” he continued. “The American people reject what happened on Jan. 6, but come in November of 2022, they are going to reject the Democratic Party because these folks running our country in the House and the Senate, and Biden, don’t know what they’re doing.”

The vice president’s speech pushed hard for the Democrats’ election federalization bill, asking whether Jan. 6 will “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?”

Do you think Biden, Harris and the Democrats used Jan. 6 as a political tool?

“Here, in this very building, a decision will be made about whether we uphold the right to vote and ensure free and fair election,” Harris said, according to a CNN transcript. “Let’s be clear: We must pass the voting rights bills that are now before the Senate, and the American people must also do something more.”

Biden, meanwhile, sought to cast not just former President Donald Trump but other Republicans as bogeymen, claiming “the big lie being told by the former president and many Republicans who fear his wrath is that the insurrection in this country actually took place on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020.”

“Is that what you thought? Is that what you thought when you voted that day? Taking part in an insurrection, is that what you thought you were doing?” Biden said, according to a Rev.com transcript. “Or did you think you were carrying out your highest duty as a citizen and voting? Former president’s supporters are trying to rewrite history. They want you to see Election Day as the day of insurrection. And the riot that took place here on Jan. 6 as a true expression of the will of the people.”

He continued, saying “while some courageous men and women in the Republican Party are standing against it, trying to uphold the principle of that party, too many others are transforming that party into something else. They seem no longer to want to be the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Reagan, the Bushes.”

It’s good to see that — after several decades — the president is trying to claim Democrats accept Ronald Reagan and Bush père et fils as reasonable politicians and not figures of contempt only worth being afforded the same treatment being given to Trump. However, this ridiculous attempt at “bipartisan” rhetoric from Biden is little more than casting anyone in the Republican Party who aren’t vehement anti-Trumpers, like Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming or Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, as “insurrectionists.” The unity president, ladies and gentlemen.

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There’s a reason why the White House wants to stoke fear and promote federal election takeovers, Graham said: “Rampant inflation, broken borders, turning Afghanistan back over to terrorists, being weak in the face of Iranian aggression, these are the most dangerous times since the late ’30s.

“And I think the public is going to be voting in November of 2022 not based on what happened on Jan. 6, but based on this failed Democratic radical agenda,” he added.

John Catsimatidis · Senator Lindsey Graham – Capitol Hill police unprepared for Jan 6 mob attack.

To the extent this strategy has been tried, it hasn’t worked. In the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race, Democrats tried to paint GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin as Glenn “Trumpkin.” As early as last May, the Democratic Governor’s Association said in a media release that Youngkin “went all-in on Donald Trump’s extreme agenda, from refusing to denounce his ‘Big Lie’ about the 2020 Election, to pushing his dangerous conspiracy theories about non-existent voter fraud — the same conspiracy theories that incited the January 6th attack on the U.S. that left 5 people dead.”

They kept this “Trumpkin” drumbeat up all the way to Election Day in a blue-ish state — and despite innumerable attempts to tie Youngkin to the Capitol riot, he beat Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe by a 50.6 to a 48.6 percent margin, according to CNN.

While education played a unique role in the Virginia race that might not take nationally, the shambles one year of Joe Biden’s presidency has put us into played no small part in Youngkin’s victory. On Jan. 6, 2022, all of those problems — inflation, jobs, COVID, the border crisis, the supply chain, Iran, China, Russia, Afghanistan — went away for a little bit. The airwaves were given over to cortisol-inducing fear-mongering about what happened one year ago and how the Democratic agenda is the only thing stopping it from happening again — except worse.

It didn’t work at the ballot box last November. It won’t work this time around, either. America’s in bad shape, and fear isn’t going to right the ship.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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