Biden blames excessive MAGA Republicans for intimidating voters, election officers

President Joe Biden urged People to vote in favor of democracy, reject election-denying candidates and be affected person with outcomes forward of the primary nationwide Election Day held for the reason that Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

“It is estimated that there are greater than 300 election deniers on the poll all throughout America this yr,” Biden mentioned, talking at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. “We won’t ignore the impression that is having on our nation. It is damaging, it is corrosive and it is damaging.”

Biden’s omen got here with lower than every week to go till Election Day and 5 days after an assailant with a historical past of sharing right-wing conspiracy theories broke into the house of Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacked her husband with a hammer, inflicting critical harm to his head.

In his speech Wednesday night, Biden mentioned Pelosi’s attacker David DePape used the identical rhetoric the rioters did on Jan. 6. Biden, with out naming Donald Trump, mentioned the previous president had the rioters “whipped up right into a frenzy” by his huge lie that the election of 2020 had been stolen. The lie, Biden mentioned, has led to additional political violence and voter intimidation seen during the last two years.

“This intimidation, this violence towards Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisan officers simply doing their jobs are the consequence of lies instructed for energy and revenue. Lies of conspiracy and malice. Lies repeated again and again to generate a cycle of anger, hate, vitriol and even violence,” Biden mentioned. “On this second, we’ve got to confront these lies with the reality.”

Biden cited latest polls that present People are involved with the state of democracy and reminded voters they will confront it on the poll field. The alternatives made now, Biden mentioned, will decide whether or not democracy in the USA will endure.

“We have to begin searching for one another once more, seeing ourselves as we the individuals, not as entrenched enemies,” Biden mentioned. “It is a selection we are able to make. Disunion and chaos are usually not inevitable. There’s been anger earlier than in America, there’s been division earlier than in America, however we have by no means given up on the American experiment and we won’t try this now.”

Biden additionally reminded People that in lots of states absentee ballots can’t be counted earlier than polls shut on Election Day, which suggests it can take time for the ultimate outcomes to come back in. This grew to become a central level of rivalry for conspiracy theorists throughout the 2020 election, notably as many Democrats voted by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. Far-right election deniers claimed the legally forged ballots have been fraudulent.

“It takes time to depend all reputable ballots in a authorized and orderly method,” Biden mentioned. “It is at all times been necessary for residents in a democracy to be told and engaged. Now it is necessary for residents to be affected person as effectively.”