The Republican National Committee assailed on Friday President Joe Biden's Jan. 6 speech in Pennsylvania, saying that his "polarizing rhetoric" about the attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago is masking the fact that his polices are crushing the "soul of America."
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released a statement to Newsmax ahead of Biden's speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, his first campaign event of 2024.
"The topic of my speech today is deadly serious. And I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign," Biden's speech began.
All that's deadly has come from the Biden administration the past three years, McDaniel said.
"The soul of America has been crushed under the weight of Joe Biden's failures. While families can't pay their bills, children are dying from fentanyl overdoses, terror suspects are crossing the open southern border, and Americans are still being held hostage by Hamas, Biden wants to further divide Americans with polarizing rhetoric to distract from his catastrophic policies.
"Biden has done enough damage — no one can take four more years," McDaniel said.
In his speech, moved up a day because of an impending winter storm, Biden accused Trump of "trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election." Biden called the Jan. 6 rioters "insurrectionists" who "were there to destroy the Constitution."
"Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot," Biden said.
A new poll released Thursday suggests many voters don't agree that Biden has democracy's interest at heart. According to the USA Today/Suffolk University poll, when asked who's to blame for the threat to democracy, 40% of respondents said Democrats.
Regarding Jan. 6, 2021, 48% of respondents said the rioters were "criminals," down from 70% who said the same in the weeks after the riots. Those who said "they went too far, but they had a point" rose from 24% in 2021 to 37% now.
As for Trump and his role, 43% now say that Trump bore "a lot of the blame" compared to 48% in 2021. Nearly 30% then and now say Trump bore "no blame" for the attack.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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