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.
Now do a trump speech, please.
Why, you have people here claiming he said he was going to rule as a dictator.
Yea, and Biden threatened F-15s against Americans
I think that, as a nation, we deserve Joe Biden, and all the various calamities the Democrat Party has brought upon us. Too many Americans have chosen to live in a fantasy land inside their heads. They live in pretense. Some are Sovereign Citizens and honestly believe that they need no driver’s license or vehicle tags. They cite made-up law to cops, and even when their windows get smashed, and they get pulled out of their cars, they continue to believe. Others believe that they can presto-change-o become members of the opposite sex, by putting on wigs, or getting some surgery to their privates, despite a complete lack of scientific validation. Still others are convinced that racism is behind the sorry state of Black America, not an 80% out-of-wedlock birth rate. They rant on and on about 1619, but never seem to concern themselves about where the first black slaves in America were in 1618 – which was a nasty, filthy slave-pen somewhere in Benin. Oh, and let’s see, we can live without borders, and unskilled illegal aliens are a boon to our economy, and we don’t need guns, despite the fact that people in our larger cites go to sleep at night to a “symphony of gunfire.” And don’t even get me started about the economic fantasies; that communism is better than free markets, or that unregulated capitalism would bring about Paradise on Earth, or that we should continue to raise the retirement age for social security as opposed to increasing taxes to pay for it. I think Americans have become a bunch of nuts, and the root of it all is a complete disregard for Reality, and not the inability to see things for what they are, but a lack of desire to see things for what they are.
I never thought our country could get to a point where our country would be so far off course as you described it, but here we are. We started a course correction in 2016 but rapidly voided all the progress made by electing senile self-loathing American career politician Joe Biden. I’m not sure we will be able to course correct again and maintain it.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1743674947992469858
That is Hilarious!!!
“It’s all collapsing right when they need the narrative to hold most. Jack Smith’s J6 prosecution of Trump is teetering. SCOTUS could overturn the most common felony count.
Polls show more people now vs 2021 think the 2020 election was illegitimate. . . And suspicion about the animating role of the FBI and other government agencies continues to grow.”
The same people who cried “Russian interference” over a few bots with zero influence, don’t give a rip about the interference of the DOJ, FBI, twitter, facebook, and 51 former intelligence agents in the 2020 election.
As long as they get to keep their abortions on demand, open borders, sexual mutilation of minors, men in women’s sports, and drag queen story hour, nothing else matters.
“It was 2:20 p.m. on this day in 2021. I was in my classroom- quadruple masked- explaining to my students how queer slaves actually wrote the Constitution, when I heard it: sobbing from the hall.
I went outside to find my colleague, an English teacher, sobbing uncontrollably. At first I thought Ron DeSantis had made our jobs even more difficult by banning us from discussing our kinks in the classroom, but it was far worse.
“A white supremacist insurrectionist has his feet on Nancy Pelosi’s desk,” they/them cried.
I rushed back into my classroom to see the look of fear on my students’ faces.
“Are we going to lose access to our puberty blockers?” a purple-haired demiboy asked.
“If they overthrow our democracy, yes,” I replied.
For the next several hours we watched the TV in fear as several hundred terrorists searched the Capitol for Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, so they could have their way with her.
Thankfully, a brave police officer of color shot a hysterical Karen in the face, sending the MAGA idiots running for their lives at the sight of such a strong Black man.”
John Say,
Thank you for the laugh!
Spot on of how our leftist friends see Jan6th.
Love it John!!!
By trying to remove Trump and other Republicans from the ballot using the 14th amendment, Democrats have FORCED the public to re-examine January 6th and the 2020 election.
The beleif among many democrats and some republicans is that j6 and Trump’s response to the 2020 election were winning issues for democrats.
Many republican pundits – like Karl Rove said the 2024 election hinges on whether the election is about Trump opr whether it is about Biden, the economy and other issues like foreign affairs where Biden is incredibly weak.
What we are learning – what Turley’s editorial reflects, is that purportedly one of the BEST issues for Biden and democrats – J6 and the 2020 election is a LOSING issue for democrats.
This is NOT about My or others ability to defend the events of J6 or to demonstrate the rigging of the 2020 election.
The core problem for those on the left is not that people beleive each of Trump’s claims regarding election fraud.
It is not about the specific means by which the 2020 election was rigged.
It is not even about whether the 2020 election rigging was legal or not.
It is about the FACT that the majority of americans understand that Biden won the eleciton in 2020 by the skin of his teeth, and that he did so by not just lying and deceiving people, but by having a great deal of help from sources and institutions that are supposed to tell us the truth.
Many people are disturbed by the violence on J6. They may not agree with the protestors, but they understand that the J6 protests of the 2020 election were legitimate and possibly justified. That certainly J6 protesters had the right to a sense of unease about the 2020 election.
That but for substantial institutional lying and corruption, Trump would be president.
J6 and the 2020 election – which should have been winning issues for democrats – are proving to be more harmful than beneficial
Because increasingly people do not trust democrats and our institutionas.
Government institutions we are supposed to trust lied about Iragi weapons of mass destruction.
They lied about Benghazi.
They lied about Urainium One
They lied about clinton’s emails,
About the clinton foundation.
About Alpha Bank
about the steele Dossier
About fracking.
About the Hunter Biden laptop.
About covid
among many many other things
As a result people do not trust the media.
The do not trust social media.
They do not trust government agencies.
They do not trust democrats.
And they KNOW, that even if Trump is wrong about many things regarding J6 or the 2020 election, that he is likely right about some.
Issue after issue is a losing issue for democrats.
Because they can not be honest.
In another post we are debating the wrongful death of Alishi Babbit.
Babbitt was trespassing.
She was breaking a window.
She was breaking the law.
She deserved to be arrested and prosecuted.
But she was murdered, and the left wants to pretend that was not so.
Should the Babbits get millions of dollars – probably not – nor should George Floyd.
Should Ofc. Byrd go to jail for decades – probably not – no should Derek Chauvin.
Should their be some consequences for the unnecessary murder of an unarmed trespasser by ofc. Byrd ? Yes.
The fact that the left can not accept anything less that an irrational total victory on ever issue destroys their trust .
The killing of Babbit must be totally justified.
The 2020 election must be Ivory Snow pure.
Everything Joe Biden touches must turn to gold.
Everything Trump touches must turn to $hit.
But that is not reality – and more and more people are NOT buying the narative.
It’s quite amusing to hear Professor Turley insist Biden “spent virtually the whole speech obsessing about Trump and Jan. 6, 2021.” Turley has spent virtually Biden’s entire presidency obsessing about Hunter Biden’s laptop & last year, he offered his Fox News legal consultant final verdict: “What is clear is that the Bidens ran one of the most lucrative and blatant influence peddling operations in history.” But then, when he was sworn under oath at the House impeachment enquiry, he was forced to admit “I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.”
Of course, that didn’t stop Marjorie Taylor Greene from filing articles of impeachment on BIden’s 2nd day in office & House Republicans filing 15 articles of impeachment against Biden over the past 3 years.
Turley gleefully cites Biden’s poll numbers. Okay, Professor, let’s cite poll numbers. 66% of Republicans don’t accept the results of the 2020 election which Congress certified on Jan. 6, 2021. 44% of Trump voters believe the FBI instigated the Jan.6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Turley predictably ignores the Trump White House advisors who wholeheartedly agree with Biden’s denouncement of Trump. Here’s how Trump’s hand-picked advisors describe their first-hand experience working with him.
Trump’s Defense Secretary, Mark Esper: “I do regard him as a threat to our democracy, our institutions, our political culture–all those things that make America great.”
Trump’s Chief of Staff, John Kelly: “He’s a person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution & the rule of law.”
Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Allysa Farah Griffin: “Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it. And I don’t say that lightly. We all witnessed him try to steal a democratic election before & going to historic & unconstitutional lengths to do so. And that shows he’s willing to break every barrier to get into power & stay into power.”
You nailed it, Professor Turley. This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.
he was forced to admit “I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.”
You have to lie about EVERYTHING. Turley was asked to testify about doing an impeachment inquiry. NOT impeachment. Turley testified they had the basis to launch an impeachment inquiry. Because there was not enough evidence to launch an impeachment.
Yes, the speech was full of irony — the pot calling the kettle black. Projection.
What is really scary is that the Joe we currently see is at his best. How long can he remain at his current level of cognition? Dementia doesn’t improve.
When will Kamala become our fearless leader?
A vote for Joe is a vote for Kamala.
“How long can he remain at his current level of cognition?”
That’s a question for the doctors pumping him full of meds.
With the departure of Lawn Boy, I ask everyone here to join me in this new age of enlightenment. Do not respond to any post from Svelaz. It is clear that he gets paid for every single response he gets to his posts. How else would someone have the audacity and mendacity to show up here day in and day out, spending all day posting childish, illogical, factually incorrect responses to virtually every new post of consequence. If you feel the need to ridicule him for his constant lack of self awareness or his contradictions of his own statements, do as i did and start a new thread. If he responds to that, ignore him or start a new thread. When the revenue dries up, he will move on to greener pastures.
I note that he has begun to also post new threads of his own, because others have woken up and stopped responding directly to him, cutting down on his revenue. Ignore them or reply in a new thread.
Waters, I stopped reading Svelaz a long time ago. The only time I will read him is when his comment is very short (almost never) or I see him reply to one of my comments with his usual paid propaganda.
Waters,
Just scroll past.
Yes, of course, but we must get others to ignore him as well. ITs not easy, because of the ridiculous statements he makes, like this one
“Biden has a strong argument with the economy regardless of what republicans say.”
Obviously, he thinks that Republicans make up 68% of the voters. Maybe he’s thinking of just the legal ones.
“They don’t have anything to point out that they have accomplished during the past four years.”
Or this one. Clearly does not understand how our form of government works. Also not very good at math.
Clearly he gets paid. Or has zero self respect.
“How about posting a rebuttal”
Like I said. Bad at math. I just gave two rebuttals to his ignorant rants, yet he wants more. I’m not sure how to help him.
“I don’t get paid”
Yea, ok. Well, I provided the only logical alternative. Zero self respect. Every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, you make a spectacle of yourself with easily provable factual falsehoods and missteps. Why would someone do that? You can’t deny it. Well, you could, but it would just be one more lie.
Clearly, David Benson is a Svelaz sock puppet. No one else could possibly think that Svelaz posts are a cure for ignorance. LOL Even Dennis called him a lunatic.
Isn’t David Benson the one who claimed that Hermaphrodite isn’t a word anymore?
And then called BS on the 16 dictionaries, including medical dictionaries, that still have it clearly defined.
Ignorance indeed.
Nothing quite says “Saving Democracy” like keeping all of your opponents (both Democrat & Republican) off the ballot. This is truly museum-grade BS, but entirely possible in today’s Amerika thanks to the obedient mainstream media who dutifully grind out your 2024 campaign message free of charge. Brings back fond memories of Pravda, eh Jonathan ?
And the Völkischer Boebachter.
“Even more galling was Biden’s claim to be the defender of free speech.” (JT)
He has been a pathological liar and cheat since at least law school. Why are these recent lies a surprise to anyone?
Dear Prof Turley,
Trying to remember my history: The [American] Revolution was not televised, and probably won’t be on the NBC nightly news or Meet the Press anytime soon.
By today’s standards, over 50 top intel officials, including the past 5 CIA directors, would assess the revolutionary spirit of Gen. George ‘never told a lie’ Washington as a world class ‘terrorist’ threat, and the inept, corrupt, soulless husk of Joe ‘genocide’ Biden would cut down his cherry tree and blame it on the Orange Hitler (aka The Trump monkey Apostle.). .. it’s a low-down crying shame.
After all, one man’s terrorist, is another man’s freedom fighter.
*”My first wish is to see the plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth” ~ George Washington
To the man who said “watch me,” I hope that the voters will say: “We have been watching you and we don’t like what we see.”
𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞 (𝟐𝟒 𝐡𝐫. Reminder) – 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐚𝐧 𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 (𝐓𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘)
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 9:30 A.M. USCA (Live-Stream)
The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit
Case#: 23-3228 USA v. Donald Trump
Judges: Henderson, Childs, Pan
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68073028/united-states-v-donald-trump/
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/51648356/USA_v_Donald_Trump
Video Link:
[ youtube.com/watch?v=PEQ1aToavl8 ]
OT, things are about to heat up in southern Lebanon, as Israel has neutralized a senior Hezbollah commander. My prediction: look for a 2-front war soon.
With Eastasia and Eurasia, no doubt…
This was Biden’s Emmanuel Goldstein speech. On the plus side, he’ll be raising the choco ration to 25 grams at the Party Congress this summer.
Doubleplusgood!
Svelaz says:
“Like when Trump did nothing to stop the violence on Jan 6. Right?”
Funny, because Friday, when asked how the violence was ended, you said “Trump called them off”.
How does one make that bwadeeba deeba sound with their finger and lips, in text? This seems like a good time for that.
Not what you said. You said he “did nothing”. Can you not go one day without lying?
Svelaz says:
“
TrumpBiden is still obsessed about J62020 election”Irony and self awareness. SMH
DNC platform 2024.
They wake up every day, its Jan 6. They get in their electric cars and drive to the abortion clinic. The end.
-Kellyanne Conway
The real tragedy of Biden is that even HE does not know who is the real President. Barack Obama? Susan Rice? Anthony Blinken? It’s anybody’s guess.
Oof! Straight fire, Professor Turley, and spot on. Wish more modern liberals had your guts. That speech was most patently absurd yet given what is literally happening with ballots around the country. A sane person would think even dem voters would be pissed. There is zero pretense at this point; how asleep does one have to be? At the least I would think young radicals would be rioting over being chained to the ‘old dude’. Then again, those folks pay so little attention to actual events and are so poorly informed how the system actually works they likely don’t know or know what the implications are. Anyhoo – 🔥🔥🔥
What is most illuminating about Turley’s post is that he is saying what an increasing number of liberals, democrats and independents are realizing.
Adressing the raft of left wing nut rants above accusing Turley of going Full MAGA or Trump or going over to the dark side.
Nothing Turley wrote endorses Trump or MAGA or republicans.
The focus of the entire post was President Biden and by implication that of much of the democratic party’s growing fascim.
To some extent – whether we discuss Trump or Biden or … we discuss WORDS.
But ultimately this is NOT about what Trump said at some rally, or what Biden said at Valley forge.
It is about what people have DONE. It is about their ACTIONS.
It is about election lawfare to disenfranchise voters.
It is about political censorship.
It is about weaponizing government against political enemies.
It is about being a fascist, not about accusing people of fascism.
It is about doing, not about speaking.
John Say,
And their actions speak louder than words: Totalitarianism.
The party who will destroy democracy to save democracy via civil war.
@Upstate @Johnsay
I have resisted the idea mightily, but I fear you are correct. The modern dems are a regime, they will not relent, ever – not ever – (stop thinking this is about law or tradition) and it is likely that is going to lead to a conflict none of us want, and in the 21st century it is going to be clouded and confused beyond belief. I honestly think that things will parse themselves out eventually, someday, but we are in for some hard, hard times until then and it is 100% due to our modern, ‘liberal’ thugs in the meantime. It is indeed bizarre. Obama and all that followed him were likely the worst thing to happen to this country in our entire history. We are now reaping the fruits, and those fruits are rotting. Hope the tiny sugar hit was worth it back in 2008 for all the people that felt good about themselves, the rest of us be damned. Community, it takes a village, immigration of all stripes, my a**. You people should be ashamed of yourselves, but that is nothing new, and you won’t. At some point even the privileged and tone deaf will feel this – it will be long after the fact, and I honestly don’t know what we do then. We need a course correction right flipping now, before there are munitions.
James,
Well said.
I will only point out it is not all Democrats.
Sane Democrats like Bill Maher, Elon Musk, James Carville, the good professor and even my sister have or are trying to call out the TDS infected leftists that have seemingly highjacked the Democrat party. Maher and Carville go as far as to declare these leftists are not only insane but stupid. As an example, earlier TDS infected Sammy tried to claim the good professor has gone full MAGA. I easily corrected him that the good professor is merely pointing out the changes in his Democrat party and not for the better i.e. censorship, corruption, un-Constitutional acts etc. My own sister, a long time Democrat, has written both the DNC and the Biden admin that she will vote for anyone else than Biden.
Sorry, but I am not quite following your last line, namely “munitions?” As in real shots fired in anger? Or did you mean something else and auto correct did that?