Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance on Friday denounced President Joe Biden for an oration he gave at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the night before in which the president castigated pro-Trump Republicans as a danger to democracy.
Vance, an attorney, venture capitalist, and author, blasted the speech as disuniting and inflammatory. He said Biden should instead turn to problems of consequence to Americans, including crime, inflation, and the educational and social compromises children have endured due to COVID-19 countermeasures.
“During a time when we desperately need to bring people together, not further divide, Biden declares Republicans as enemies of the state and purposely inflames tensions,” the candidate said in a statement. “Never before has an American leader caused so much damage while accepting so little responsibility: Biden’s speech was a direct assault on the very people he is supposed to serve.”
Biden faulted what is broadly known as the Make America Great Again [MAGA] wing of the GOP, a largely populist element that strongly backs former president Donald Trump.
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault; we do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise….,” the president said. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.”
Biden said “not even the majority of Republicans” are part of the movement he described, despite the fact that president Trump polls overwhelmingly among party members concerning who is their favored presidential nominee in 2024. He observed nonetheless that Trump represents the dominant faction within the GOP.
Criticisms the commander-in-chief made on Thursday evening included the persistence of many Republicans in declaring that the 2020 presidential election was illegitimate and their desire for election reforms the president equates with “voter suppression.” He rebuked pro-life Republicans for dismissing a “right to privacy” and allegedly failing to heed the Constitution.
“MAGA Republicans have made their choice: They embrace anger; they thrive on chaos,” Biden lamented. “They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies. But together we can choose a different path, we can choose a better path forward to the future.”
Vance noted his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan has also used such rhetoric when describing the same demographic.
“I need not wonder if Tim Ryan supports such divisive rhetoric: on CNN, he took to the airwaves to argue that yes, Biden is right that Americans who supported Trump are dangerous to democracy,” Vance said. “Tim Ryan should be ashamed of himself, and the people of Ohio should take note of what Tim Ryan says when he’s not hiding behind a well-produced TV commercial.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “J.D. Vance” and Background Photo “Trump Rally Crowd” by J.D. Vance.
