Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the …
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the Jan.6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results affirming Joe Biden as the winner. President Biden commemorated the anniversary with a stern speech that condemned the rioters and former President Trump — without using his name — for his actions leading up to, during and following the insurrection. To be sure, Biden is right to disparage the violent insurrectionists who stormed our Capitol building one year ago. He is also justified in criticizing Trump and the G.O.P. for trying to rewrite history by downplaying the events of Jan.6 and continuing to embrace Trump’s “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him. That being said, there was a fine-line that Biden needed to walk during Thursday’s speech — between denouncing the rioters and those who continue wage war on our democratic institutions, while also making a broader call for Americans to unify and move forward together — which I believe he failed to achieve. By attacking Trump and the Republican Party in such a backward-looking and partisan way, Biden’s speech will only further alienate those on the other side of the aisle, as well as the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump in 2020. To be sure, Trump made a similar mistake that Biden appears to be making in the sense that he failed to look forward, and only sought to harp on the past — focusing only on the 2020 election, not on the problems facing America: the pandemic, the ascendancy of Russia and China, or on an agenda for the future.
