07 January 2022 - Biden speaks on anniversary of Capitol attack
Biden condemns Trump’s ‘web of lies’ a year on from deadly Capitol assault
Lauren Gambino (The Guardian, 06/01/2022)
Joe Biden on Thursday forcefully denounced Donald Trump for spreading a “web of lies” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in a desperate attempt to cling to power, accusing the former president and his allies of holding a “dagger at the throat of American democracy”.
The US president condemned his predecessor’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as a “failed” pursuit, but one that continues to imperil American democracy one year after the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol, when a violent mob of Trump loyalists breached the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s presidential election victory.
Inside Biden's fiery speech and his decision to confront Trump's danger head on
Jeff Zeleny, Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak (CNN, 06/01/2022)
It was only a little more than a month ago when President Joe Biden, asked about another head-shaking revelation regarding his predecessor, seemed to balk at a mere mention of the man.
"I don't think about the former President," he claimed, pausing for dramatic effect before walking offstage at the White House.But on Thursday, it was evident Biden has actually been thinking quite a lot about Donald Trump.
Biden urges America to see the truth of Jan. 6 – and understand its place in history
John M. Murphy (The Conversation, 06/01/2022)
President Joe Biden closed his speech commemorating and deploring the events of Jan. 6, 2021, by asking God to “bless those who stand watch over democracy.”
To “stand watch” is to stand guard, but as a metaphor, it runs deeper. To stand watch on a ship is to keep out a weather eye – to keep an eye on the sea and sky for potential danger. In this larger sense, Biden’s address called on Americans to see the plain truth, to bear witness to the violence of Jan. 6 and survey the coming threats.
As a scholar of presidential rhetoric, I pay attention to metaphors because they often reveal a lot about the ideas, values and beliefs of particular chief executives and, indeed, of the nation as a whole.
The hollowness of Biden’s January 6 speech
Zack Beauchamp (Vox, 06/01/2022)
President Joe Biden’s speech on the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection was, as a matter of rhetoric, deeply moving. He reminded the country of the brutality of the attack, the absurdity of Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, and the disturbing fact that American democracy remains in grave danger a year later.
“I did not seek this fight, brought to this Capitol one year ago today. But I will not shrink from it, either,” Biden said. “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 democracy.”
The reviews were positive. “Biden hitting all the right notes here, and hitting them hard. A reminder of how powerful the Bully Pulpit can be,” Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty tweeted. “Is anyone on the right listening?”