Below is my column in The Hill on the Valley Forge speech of President Joe Biden kicking off his 2024 campaign. Biden’s claiming the mantle as the defender of democracy and free speech struck a discordant note with many civil libertarians given his record and the actions of many Democratic activists in this election.
Here is the column:
“This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.”
That line, from the speech of President Joe Biden at Valley Forge this week, may have been the most accurate observation in the entire address kicking off Biden’s 2024 campaign.
The speech was a masterpiece of contradiction. Biden started by denouncing how Donald Trump’s campaign is only “about him” and “obsessed with the past.” He then spent virtually all of the speech obsessing about Trump and Jan. 6, 2021.
It was an early indication of the Orwellian character of the speech. Facing the lowest polling numbers of any modern president, Biden attempted a constructive substitution. “Democracy is on the ballot,” he said. So voters do not have to vote for him. When they see Biden, they should just read “democracy.”
That will require more than an act of substitution in the voting booth. It would require an act of willful blindness.
Biden spoke of how Democrats are fighting to protect the “right to vote.” Democratic activists and officials across the country are seeking to remove Trump from the ballot even though he is the most popular choice for the presidency right now.
In fact, dozens of Democratic officials have sought to remove 126 Republicans from Congress on the same basis. Even as Biden was telling citizens to vote Democrat to preserve democracy, a Democratic activist was seeking to remove a GOP congressman from the ballot in a nearby Pennsylvania district.
Biden’s speech would be more credible if he had joined principled Democratic politicians who have denounced this nationwide effort. As usual, he has remained silent as he did on court packing in the last election.
It would also have been a tad more convincing if his party were not preventing citizens from voting for anyone other than Biden in the primary. Florida called its Democratic primary for Biden and blocked opposing candidates, despite two-thirds of Democrats wanting an alternative to Biden. Faced with such polling numbers, the party establishment is so committed to democracy that it has decided voters cannot be trusted with a choice. North Carolina’s Democrats became the latest to bar anyone but Biden from the ballot.
Democratic officials are approaching democracy the way Henry Ford responded to calls for different color choices for the Model T. He pledged to provide “any color the customer wants, as long as it’s black.” In this election, voters can choose anyone they want, as long as it is Biden.
For millions of voters, democracy may be on the ballot but it is aspirational. If you vote for Biden, you might just get democracy back, but only after the election.
Even more galling was Biden’s claim to be the defender of free speech. As I have previously written, Biden has been the most anti-free speech president since John Adams. His administration has been unrelenting in pushing for censorship and blacklisting of those with opposing views.
The Biden censorship efforts have been described by one federal court as unprecedented in our history and a virtual “Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’” The Biden Administration has called for the censorship of even true statements that it deems misleading.
For Biden to run on free speech is about as convincing as Bill Clinton running on abstinence.
Biden hopes that voters will buy the “don’t vote for me, vote for democracy” line. However, it does not appear to be working thus far. Indeed, the Valley Forge speech was another example of “the sound of one hand clapping” with the same 40 percent or so that is clinging to Biden in the polls.
This time, however, he dropped the hellish red back drop from Philadelphia in 2022, when he denounced Trump supporters as enemies of the people. Instead, he did everything he could to channel the spirit of George Washington, short of appearing in a Continental uniform.
Of course, Washington was a unifying figure in his time. He did not declare all Tories to be traitors. Many Tories and former loyalists would ultimately join his cause. Biden portrayed the 74 million voters for Trump as virtual redcoats seeking the return of the monarchy.
The key to Washington’s success is that he was at Valley Forge. He lived through the deprivations imposed upon his men and defended democracy by refusing invitations to become a monarch. If Biden wants to assume the mantle of a Washington, he could start by supporting democracy, practicing it in both the primary and in general election by calling for voters to be given their choice of candidates.
Given his record, Biden’s effort to disguise himself as George Washington left him looking foolish in a uniform two sizes too big for his stature.
Biden has a consistent record of only supporting principles and positions that bring political benefits. While James Freeman Clarke once said that statesmen think of the next generation, Biden seems rarely to have thought beyond the next election.
Moreover, Biden’s effort to champion the Constitution was contradicted by a long line of decisions finding that he has violated the Constitution with impunity. This includes rulings that his administration has exceeded his authority and engaged in racial discrimination in federal programs. Indeed, Biden has often displayed a cavalier attitude toward such violations.
For example, the Biden administration was found to have violated the Constitution in its imposition of a nationwide eviction moratorium through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Biden admitted that his White House counsel and most legal experts told him the move was unconstitutional. But he ignored their advice and went with that of Harvard University Professor Laurence Tribe, the one person who would tell him what he wanted to hear. It was, of course, then quickly found to be unconstitutional.
Biden showed the same disregard over the unconstitutionality of his effort to unilaterally forgive roughly half a trillion dollars in student debt.
Biden rarely allows principle to stand before politics.
That is why Biden is no Washington. It is not even clear that Biden makes a convincing Biden. His checkered history of violating the Constitution has left little real notion of what he values beyond the politically expedient.
The tragedy of Biden is not that he has not reached the heights of Washington. Few ever have. The tragedy is that we may never know if Biden could rise to meet his own Valley Forge challenge.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School.
I was going to say that Joe Biden has delusions of grandeur but in all honesty, I think he just has delusions. He has passed the flubbed statements and obvious decline of his mental faculties and now sees the delusions that first he was going to be another FDR and then the delusion has retrogressed even further back to George Washington. Since memory tends to go to an extent as we age more recent events tend to be lost first and then over time we often lose the far earlier events. I suppose that means he has now forgotten FDR and is back at George Washington. If his next speech is about John Smith then we know he has gone even further back in time and we are really in the deep water with the crocodiles.
Question that I have is whether Jill Biden could be prosecuted for the conspiracy to defraud the republic and / or people by pushing this obviously addled person around as president. Maybe we should even consider calling Adult Protective Services . 2 complaints 1-protect the senile individual that lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 2 protect the country from his unelected coterie of staff. If the Republicans take congress and the Presidency the very first executive order should proceed to apprehending Joe Biden with a demand for a full neuropsyc evaluation for his own protection. Charges could follow after the exam. I would also demand all medical records of this president from the time he took the oath.
Given that 40-45% of the American people would vote for biden again, I don’t believe they have suffered enough. Biden deserves another chance.
The floggings will continue until the morale improves.
Not surprising. 90% of those still believe the pee tape is real. Svelaz and Dennis among them.
90% of 40% is 36%
Idiot
Within the margin of error LMAO
Notice he doesnt deny being among them.
you’re just gonna remove Svelaz post, to keep him from looking like a fool?
Dont complain. all he did was remove your ignorant comment, oh math genius.
Professor Turley,
You write, “Biden spoke of how Democrats are fighting to protect the “right to vote.” Democratic activists and officials across the country are seeking to remove Trump from the ballot even though he is the most popular choice for the presidency right now.”
We are a democracy with guardrails, not a simple democracy. We cannot vote for any candidate, who desires to run for the office of the presidency. We can’t vote for George W. Bush or Barack Obama, for example, because they are term-limited. We cannot vote for individuals, who do not meet the citizenship requirements for office, either. Further, the Bill of Rights was intended to be a check on majoritarian tyranny. The American people can’t vote away your rights to speak, to exercise your religion, or to due process. The Civil War Amendments, in particular, further expanded constitutional protections against majoritarian encroachment. Majorities cannot reimpose slavery, nor can they take away your right to equal protection under the law.
The authors of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment were worried that voters would send former Confederates right back into public office, and that is why they imposed this UNDEMOCRATIC protection on democracy. If they believed that the American electorate was wise enough not to vote for insurrectionists, they never would have drafted Section 3.
Thus, these guardrails are un-democratic by design. However, they are also imposed specifically to protect the “right to vote.” George Washington, specifically, and many of the other Founding Fathers were concerned about the strength of our political parties, and the potential for an executive to never leave office. This was a primary reason for the passage of the 22nd Amendment in 1951.
Similarly, it is not contradictory to desire protect OUR democracy by upholding the undemocratic guardrail on democracy imposed by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Pushing to disqualify Obama or Bush from ballot in order to uphold the 22nd Amendment would be the same thing. It would not matter if either Obama or Bush was the “most popular choice for the presidency.”
You, of course, know all of this. But you continue to fuel the age of rage by attempting to convince your readers otherwise.
When was Trump or anyone else convicted of insurrection? Evidently due process not important to Progressive revolutionaries and their ” useful idiots”.
If you care about the actual text of the Constitution, conviction is not a prerequisite for a finding that the individual engaged in insurrection.
Perhaps it would help to read up on others who have been disqualified under this provision without a conviction. For example:
Zebulon Vance (never convicted) (https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/059Abbott_Vance_Ransom.htm)
J.D. Watkins (never convicted) https://cite.case.law/la-ann/21/631/
Further, is there a similar conviction requirement for impeachment?
Due process is not provided to individuals seeking re-employment to federal positions. See the seminal case, Bd of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth. Do you disagree with Roth and its progeny? I assume you’ve read this if you are bringing up due process, right?
And finally, even if DP is required, let me ask you – who was offered more due process, Trump or an applicant for welfare benefits? The DP requirement can be satisfied with quasi-judicial hearings. So, why would a 5-day trial not qualify?
“. . . read up on others . . .”
Why do those who like to cite precedent, always ignore the most remarkable precedent: Jefferson Davis?
What about Jefferson Davis?
Jefferson Davis contended in 1868 that Section Three was self-executing (See Case of Davis, 7 F. Cas. 63, 90, 92–94, (C.C.D. Va. 1867). In Griffin’s Case, Jefferson Davis contended that Section Three was self-executing and that the
absence of legislation on that subject for Virginia (as of December 1868) did not defeat his treason defense.
“What about Jefferson Davis?”
There were federal *criminal* charges and a trial scheduled against him. That is clearly a precedent against the insane notion that there does not need to be a *criminal* trial to deem Trump guilty of the crime of insurrection.
Re Vance and Abbott perhaps yet another “Anonymous” that fails to read and understand what he links might take notice of the fact that it was the Congress/Senate that dealt with the Vance issue….not a Court.
He also should recall at that time Senators were appointed by a vote of the State Legislatures and not by popular vote of the People and remained that way until the 17th Amendment which took effect in 1913.
It helps if one has some notion of history and reality and the ability to read and comprehend the printed word.
The “Conclusion” from the linked article he used states:
“In denying the seat to Abbott, the Senate accepted the premise that, if it chose, it could have removed the disabilities of Zebulon Vance after his election, a procedure that had been followed for officials elected by several other southern states.
On February 5, 1872, while the Senate was still wrestling with the dilemma of turning out the well-liked and effective Abbott, Matt W. Ransom (Democrat-NC) had appeared with credentials for the disputed seat, having been elected to replace Vance. Unlike Vance, Ransom, a former brigadier general in the Confederate army, had not served in Congress before the war and thus was not hampered by the same disability. The Senate referred his credentials to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. On April 24, 1872, the committee reported that Ransom’s credentials were in order. He was immediately seated and granted his pay from the beginning of the term in March 1871.
All three of the North Carolina politicians in this case continued to serve in public life. Joseph Abbott, who earlier demonstrated his concern for the harbor at Wilmington, accepted an appointment as inspector of ports under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Abbott died in 1882. Zebulon Vance eventually came to the Senate in 1879 and served until his death in 1894. Matt Ransom remained in the Senate until 1895 and died in 1904.”
What is the purpose of your response? The example was given because Zebulon was never convicted of a crime, and yet, the conclusion (as you summarize) was that he could have been disqualified anyway.
Do you disagree that this shows that, at the time, Section Three was not understood to require a conviction?
You instead focus on irrelevant additional information. Does any of it my point that others “have been disqualified under this provision without a conviction.”
Further, the facts of the case show why it is not advisable to wait after an election to disqualify a candidate. The committee report at the time noted that “the practice in the United States was to declare such an election void, rather than to grant the seat to a competitor.”
I would prefer we handle disqualification before the election, instead of declaring the election void.
“If you care about the actual text of the Constitution, conviction is not a prerequisite for a finding that the individual engaged in insurrection.”
Interesting. Is the word “finding” in the “actual text” of 14A3? I found a fly in my coffee this morning. So what?
The New Mexico court “found” the fact that “Joe Biden called it an insurrection” compelling evidence that it was. The same guy who can’t find his way off of a stage, doesn’t remember what day it is or what state he is in, and believes his son came home in a flag draped coffin, he witnessed the bridge collapse in PA, and was at ground zero on 9/12. Who’s next, Daffy Duck?
Insurrection is a crime since 1948. If you call what happened an insurrection, the only body that can “find” that someone engaged in it is a jury of one’s peers.
Maybe you’d like to take a shot at why 18 USC 2384, despite carrying TWICE the jail time as 18 USC 2383, does not bar someone from holding public office.
“the 22nd Amendment”
You might want to inform Obama about that — who is now enjoying his *3rd* term, by proxy.
Even if that were true, where does the 22nd Amendment prohibit third terms by proxy?
Asking for a friend.
I thought you were leaving, Lawn Boy???
God help us all if Biden ever has to face a Valley Forge moment.
Have you looked around the globe lately – we are almost at that moment and our backup is cameltoes. I do think that “The Nation Was Lost Due to Incompetence” will be our Nation’s epitaph.
Whimsicalmama,
I would alter that with “The Nation Was Lost Due to Gross Incompetence” with a foot note reference to the Biden admin.
“Biden hopes that voters will buy the “don’t vote for me, vote for democracy” line. However, it does not appear to be working thus far.”
Respectfully, I disagree. I think Biden’s handlers and the Democrat machine know their voters well. That is how they have done so well in recent elections. Their voters have been conditioned by years of propaganda so much so that the best and brightest students at our elite universities side with unimaginably cruel terrorists over Jews, 40% of the electorate says they will vote for Biden in spite of his obvious dementia, and a solid percentage (including some of my highly educated friends) really believe Trump is evil incarnate. And, for those who visit Fox News online to learn the other side, what we see instead is a lead story about Austin’s “disappearance” (did it really make any difference?) followed by nine stories that either are about entertainers or localized events. It is not until stories number 10, 11 and 12 that stories of national import can be found. We conservatives are losing the information war. Backed by the main stream media, Democrat politicians who, unlike Republicans, walk in lock-step and a billion dollar war chest, there is a very real threat that Democrats will win it all, and then our country truly will be lost if it is not already.
Honestlawyermostly,
Respectfully I would disagree.
Polls show Democrats are losing minorities to Trump and the Republican party, especially Asians as the Democrat party has embraced DEI and shunned meritocracy.
Democrat party has also alienated Jews with progressives chanting “From river to sea,” on college campuses and pro-Hamas rallies across the US. They may not vote for Trump per say, but I know more than a few who are seriously questioning their party affiliation. The Democrat party echos 1930s Germany.
Cannot say much about Fox News as I generally do not visit their site, but independent sites like The Free Press, Racket news, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, Just the News and of course the good professor’s blog break the leftist narrative.
I sincerely hope I am wrong and you are right. What you say makes perfect sense but so little today in politics seems to make sense. My pessimism arises from the much anticipated Republican sweep in the midterms that never materialized even though the evidence was abundant then that Democrats were hopelessly out of step with American values and most American voters. Things certainly have gotten even worse and so maybe the tipping point was reached.
Whoever, in their most delusional moment, EVER saw biden as anything other than a cheap, nasty grifter?
Exhumed rotted Geo. Washington >>>>>>> life-supported FJB
Goodbye Lawn Boy. We won’t miss you. Hopefully your absence will last longer than Ralph’s.
Trump engaged in an attempted coup after the 2020 election. That is about as undemocratic as it gets. He is advertising (literally) that he will be a dictator. Neither the Republicans nor SCOTUS will stand against him. Biden is completely right.
Rachel, is that you again?
Dictator
LMAO
Says Sammy Metamucil, hoping no one here actually heard what Trump said.
I guess Sammy doesnt remember Joe threatening Americans with F-15s
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-dictatorship-revenge-second-term-truth-social-2023-12
LMAO so typical.
Sammy Metamucil doesn’t link to the actual comment, but to someone’s “examination” of it.
“Except on day one” Ring a bell Sammy???
I even gave you the chance to stop looking like an idiot, but you refused.
Biden began acting like a tyrant before the Bible he placed his hand on cooled off.
I am going to laugh SOOOOO hard at you on November 6th
Sammy, this is a Wendy’s.
There are detox centers for that TDS addiction – seek help. Otherwise you will become known as that crazy f*cker down the block and all the children will point and laugh at you.
No. It was not a coup.
What is truly undemocratic is disenfranchising citizens, even of your own party a choice. Some 60% of Democrats want someone other than Biden. But the Democrat party will not allow that. That is undemocratic.
The Twitter files showed us exactly to what lengths the Biden admin went to to suppress free speech. That is undemocratic.
The Democrat party has more in common with 1930s Germany, Mao’s Culture Revolution and modern day Iran than it has with democracy.
And the Democrat party is pushing for a civil war.
Did anyone besides me notice that in his Valley Forge speech last week, Biden never smiled. Throughout the entire screed he looked weak and beaten, angrey and mean. His “get off my grass” speech wasn’t even on the nightly news very much. Compare that with the presidents of the last century: JFK, RR,GWB, BC – they all could keep an audience not by fear or hatred but using old fashioned humor and common sense.
“This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.”
When a Party goes all out and ‘marginalizes’ the People with Woke and Cancel Culture,
then subjects those ‘marginalized’ to Inflation, Unemployment, Repression …
All in the name of Equality. What do you expect?
The Think Tank directing Biden is totally wrong. Unless that’s what They wanted to achieve (They Have).
The dirty Rats are sucking US dry
{Link] fool.com/investing/2024/01/07/money-supply-great-depression-big-move-in-stocks/
CalSTRS seeks to borrow more than $30 billion to manage cash
{Link] pionline.com/pension-funds/calstrs-seeks-borrow-more-30-billion-manage-cash
CalPERS CIO bailed back in September, So I expect that CalPERS will be looking for the Bailout of the Red to.
{Link] pionline.com/pension-funds/calpers-once-again-finds-itself-no-cio-drive-new-allocation
Is your 401(a) Retirement Plan above or below Water ?
George Washington University 401(a) Retirement Plan Unfunded Pension Liabilities
Why Most Teachers Get a Bad Deal on Pensions
{Link] educationnext.org/why-most-teachers-get-bad-deal-pensions-state-plans-winners-losers/
States’ Unfunded Pension Liabilities Persist as Major Long-Term Challenge
{Link] pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/07/07/states-unfunded-pension-liabilities-persist-as-major-long-term-challenge
America’s national debt is well over $33 trillion — but here’s why the country won’t pay it down
{Link] finance.yahoo.com/news/us-national-debt-sits-33-123000638.html
George Washington, at Valley Forge could Identify Our Enemies, I don’t think today We can, Biden is the passive agressive Thief of Our Future.
So “Onward Through the Fog” We go (Phileas Fogg of Oat Willie’s Austin, Tejas)
Clearly the only way to preserve democracy is to remove the opposition candidate from the ballot and imprison him! Isn’t that what the Founding Father said?
Let me make a proactive comment to all of Prof. Turley’s haters who claim he only posts on “right” wing platforms. The Hill, along with other outlets like USA Today, are not exactly home to many conservative viewpoints.
BTW, if you don’t like his opinions, just don’t read them. It is as simple as that.
EconIsEasy,
Well said and good points.
I would add the Messenger. Not exactly right wing nor is it left wing either.
“. . . if you don’t like his opinions, just don’t read them. It is as simple as that.”
That is the rub. IIRC HullBobby points out if he does not care of a MSM new outlet, he simply does not watch them or “change the channel.”
Our leftist friends on the other hand want MSM outlets like Fox News banned. Similarly, rather then not read the good professor’s blog, they attack him constantly.
Which is perfectly fine.
I have learned more about woke leftist insanity here on the good professor’s blog then anywhere else.
There is only one threat to our Constitutional Republic and it is Joe Biden and his followers:
1. A rigged 2020 election
2. Persecution of the many non-violent J6 demonstrators at the Capitol, worthy of China
3. Refusal to enforce immigration law at the Border
4. Unconstitutional suppression of free speech
5. Unconstitutional rent moratorium
6. Unconstitutional vaccine mandates
7. Unconstitutional cancellations of student loans
8. Unconstitutional coal plant and other anti-carbon regulation
9. Unconstitutional racial discrimination in the allocation of federal resources
10. Criminal prosecutions of Trump, his predecessor and leading Presidential candidate
11. Campaign to remove Trump from the ballot in many states, soon to be found unconstitutional
12. Constant lying to and obfuscation of Congress
And I’m sure there is more.
13. Unconstitutional compulsory unionism (via the NLRB)
P.S. Great list. Which illustrates another Leftist corruption: That the Constitution is merely a means to satisfy a desire (“14.3! 14.3!”). And when it thwarts a desire, they flout it.
Daniel,
Well said.
Book end Biden’s rant (written for him to read) with Pelosi explaining to Jake Tapper, that States do not have to adhere to the coming SCOTUS decision on Ballott access.
Add in SEC DEF AWOL, Absent Without Leave, leaving a huge gap in the Nuclear launch protocols. His second, was vacationing and was out of that Nuclear launch loop.
Besides being evil, this administration is comically incompetent.
“Biden started by denouncing how Donald Trump’s campaign is only “about him” and “obsessed with the past.” He then spent virtually all of the speech obsessing about Trump and Jan. 6, 2021.”
If it weren’t for irony, and a total lack of self awareness, a woke modern marxist would have nothing to say. We see it here on this blog every day.
And gee, who knew that an incumbent would have to defend himself and his record? Thats just dirty politics. /s
Incumbent or not, is the guy who cant find his way off of a stage, doesn’t know what day it is or what state he is in, believes he witnessed the bridge collapse in “sylvania” and that his son came home in a flag draped coffin and that he was at ground zero on 9/12, really the best Dems can come up with as the alternative to Trump?
Who is the utter moron that writes his speeches? The irony throughout is pathetic.
And he simply has to stop asking Biden to pronounce the word “democracy”. The whole world thinks we have Elmer Fudd for President.
Waters,
And anyone has to wonder why all our enemies are taking advantage of the situation, the best the Dems can come up with, and we are seeing the world on fire.
But Upstate, he is working on an “international commission” to deal with the Houthis disrupting shipping in the Red Sea
Biden likes to talk to Historians who tell him he is the next FDR. Reports he met historians before hi Speech. I guess now they tell him he is the next George Washington. Noted his walk, at Valley Forge and Philadelphia, he needs to be led around, especially in the Philly speech at the end his wife needed to lead him.
President Biden is no George/Joe Washington and no FDR, he is the Worst President in our history.
Biden and his Admin. along with the Left Wing radical groups and the Bernie Sanders people in Biden Admin. are not for Democracy or free Speech. Their actions remind of the World Economic/Davos Elite Great Reset policies.
The historians are really hysterians.
“No Washington”, to say the least! Biden is a demented ghost of a former mediocre law student and senator. The real question is, Who is running the country? It certainly isn’t The Big Guy, but whoever it is and is writing his scripts for him is obviously an anti- democracy, far left, totalitarian. The Democrats I knew growing up would be abhorred by today’s Democrat party. Indeed JFK would leave the party today. Wow!
“For Biden to run on free speech is about as convincing as Bill Clinton running on abstinence.” Mr. Turley that may be the best written line of the year! Almost fell out of my chair when I read that. Kudos and keep up the good work!
Greg Brandon, South Carolina
Absolutely, Biden is the greatest hypocrite of all time, and the “regime media” (MSM) permit and encourage it. But make no mistake, Biden is incapable of performing any stunt-except lying, as he’s done for 6 decades; the Democratic Party and its backers are the puppeteers. To simply name Biden as if he orchestrated all policy decisions is inaccurate. More appropriately, attribution to his these actions should be stated as “Democrat with their Biden”, rather simply blaming him.