The District is nearing 500 confirmed cases since late June.
Police are still looking for a suspect.
https://youtu.be/FXMVO6YzScY
The publication is titled The Light We Carry: Overcoming In Uncertain Times.
The deadline to apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is October 31st.
The DC Department of Insurance Securities and Banking is offering support with Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You must apply by October 31st. For more information go here:
Tune in each morning 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 to get the latest on what’s going on around the DMV
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The good, the bad and the discussion about gentrification.
In a statement, Trump’s lawyers say the lawsuit is merely a way for James to advance her political agenda.
Art All Night kicks off this Friday, September 23rd
Art All Night is Friday, September 23rdand Saturday, September 24thin 20 different Main Street corridors with both indoor and outdoor public and private spaces. The events will be from 5pm to 2am. For more information go here:
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New statistics on the pay gap. We go behind the numbers.
The committee is thought to be pushing to get a final report out before November’s midterm elections.
The SOFEI Group is hosting their C1B1 Summit, September 24.
SOFEI Group is a non-profit organization helping to empower women to emerge from economic instability thru education, training and development. They are hosting their “C1B1” Summit September 24thfrom 8:30am to 1:30pm at Harborside Hotel in Oxon Hill, MD. For more information go here:
Tune in each morning 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 to get the latest on what’s going on around the DMV
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Listen to this mornings segment here:
https://youtu.be/x5I8ICIZ4s0
https://youtu.be/AJ0rQseA9-Q
Where is the debt relief for black farmers who are really struggling to stay afloat?
College Bound is helping High School Students enter and graduate from College
Tune in each morning 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 to get the latest on what’s going on around the DMV
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Do you qualify for the PSLF?
Many of Amtrak trains run on tracks owned companies that would have been impacted by a strike.
Despite plans for the White House meetings, there is no sign that a breakthrough is imminent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to meet at the White House on Friday with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom remain jailed in Russia, the White House announced Friday.
“He wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day on making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Thursday’s press briefing at the White House.
The separate meetings are to be the first in-person encounter between Biden and the families and are taking place amid sustained but so far unsuccessful efforts by the administration to secure the Americans’ release. The administration said in July that it had made a “substantial proposal” to get them home, but despite plans for the White House meetings, there is no sign that a breakthrough is imminent.
Girls Night Out by Shawn Nancy is this Saturday, September 17th at Katzen Arts Center
Girls’ Night Out by Shawn Yancy is Saturday, September 17thfrom 5pm to 9pm at Katzen Arts Center in NW DC. For ore information go here:
Tune in each morning 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 to get the latest on what’s going on around the DMV
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram @bobbygailes.
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The Prince George’s County youth curfew, Quinta Brunson, Jimmy Kimmel and The Emmy Awards, Queen Elizabeth II.
it would be the first national railroad strike in 30 years
Lee Highway will be called Route 29, while Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway will become Route 50.
How can women of color keep their businesses afloat and successful?
Resources:
Women Elevating Women Conference (Conference closed/resource information available)
DC Startup Week/Innovation Equity Impact Fund
CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly’s federal trial on charges accusing him of making child pornography and rigging his 2008 child porn trial went to the jury on Tuesday after prosecutors and the defense wrapped up their cases.
A day after prosecutors delivered their closing argument, Kelly’s lead attorney made hers. Standing at a podium a few feet in front of the jurors, Jennifer Bonjean noted that many key government witnesses, including some of the women who accused Kelly of sexually abusing them, testified with immunity to ensure they wouldn’t be charged with previously lying to authorities.
Bonjean said they hadn’t come to the courthouse in Chicago, Kelly’s hometown, to tell the unvarnished truth. “They came in here,” she said, “to tell the government’s version of the truth.”
Among others, she cited Kelly ex-girlfriend Lisa Van Allen, who testified about how she stole a sex tape from a Kelly gym bag in the early 2000s. Bonjean also pointed to the testimony of Kelly’s former merchandizing agent Charles Freeman, who told jurors that he asked the singer for $1 million in exchange for returning another sex tape that could potentially incriminate the singer. Both testified with immunity.
The secretaries of labor, agriculture and transportation are also involved.
The Northern Virginia Delta Education and Community Service Foundation is hosting their 4th Golf Tournament September 19th
The Northern Virginia Delta Education and Community Service Foundation is hosting their 4thAnnual Golf Tournament Monday, September 19that the Laurel Hill Golf Club of Northern Virginia from 8am to 2pm. Proceeds go towards future scholarships and more. For more information go here:
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County Executive Marc Elrich talks politics and public safety in Montgomery County
Biden is also expected to deliver remarks at an event touting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Violence breaks out at local festival over the weekend.
The Synergy BWI 2022 Business Conference is Tuesday September 20th.
Synergy BWI 2022 Business Networking Conference is Tuesday, September 20thfrom 8am to 4pm at Live Casino and Hotel Maryland.
Synergy BWI 2022 Business Networking Conference is Tuesday, September 20th from 8am to 4pm at Live Casino and Hotel Maryland. For more information go here:
Tune in each morning 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 to get the latest on what’s going on around the DMV
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram @bobbygailes.
Listen to this mornings segment here:
https://youtu.be/KgTI90F9kZw
What do you do to keep the peace?
The legislation in question restricts the way race-related concepts are taught in classrooms.
Get connected to the community. Find out about free events and volunteer opportunities in your neighborhood inside of WHUR’s Community’s Choice.
The March on Washington Film Festival is September 28th to October 1st. This year’s theme is Story, Stage and Screen. www.marchonwashingtonfilmfestival.org
Alpha Academy
Connect your middle or high school son to positive role models. The 2022/23 Alpha Academy Mentoring Program starts October first www.aphiakel.org
SCLC Scholarship Fair
Are you looking for scholarship dollars? The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Prince George’s County Chapter is hosting a free scholarship fair October 8th at the First Baptist Church of Highland Park. www.infinitescholar.org
Game Genius District Hunt
Get ready for a real challenge. Game Genius is hosting its 4th Annual District Hunt, an outdoor adventure challenge October 1st thru 10th. The fun is open to everyone. www.gamegenius.org
Bryte Legacy Foundation
Help raise awareness about lymphoma. Join the Bryte Legacy Foundation for their fundraiser September 29th at the Woodmore Country Club in Mitchellville. www.brytelegacyfoundation.org
Business Network Conference
Learn the tricks of the trade to owning a business. The Maryland Reentry Resource Center is hosting an Entrepreneurship and Networking Conference October 1st at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthincum Heights. www.mdrrc.org
Thanksgiving Parade
Applications are now being accepted to participate in the 2022 Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade. The deadline is fast approaching. www.springdowntown.com
DV Fundraiser
Raise your voice against domestic violence. Come out October 1st for a car, truck, and bike meet up in Fort Washington. Proceeds benefit Sisters4Sisters Network, Inc. 240-765-4396
How do you create success when you’re in business with your spouse?
His family said he died peacefully on Wednesday in his home.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — David A. Arnold, a comedian who was a producer of the “Fuller House” reboot and the creator and showrunner of Nickelodeon’s “That Girl Lay Lay,” has died. He was 54.
Arnold’s family said in a statement Thursday that the doctors “ruled the cause of death due to natural causes.” His family said he died peacefully on Wednesday in his home.
“It is with great sadness that we confirm the untimely passing of our husband, father, brother and friend, David A. Arnold,” the statement read. “Please keep our family in prayer and respect our privacy at this time as we are all shocked and devastated by this loss.”
Arnold was a stand-up comedian who gained appeal through his perspective about fatherhood. He headlined two Netflix comedy specials “Fat Ballerina” in 2019 and the Kevin Hart-produced “It Ain’t for the Weak,” which debuted in July. He was also featured in the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival in late April.
Arnold was three shows into his four-month comedy tour called “Pace Ya Self.”
He also wrote episodes for “Meet the Browns,” “The Ricky Smiley Show” and “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.”
He was 82.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Shaw, former CNN anchor and a pioneering Black journalist remembered for his blunt question at a presidential debate and calmly reporting the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 from Baghdad as it was under attack, has died. He was 82.
He died of pneumonia, unrelated to COVID-19, on Wednesday at a hospital in Washington, according to Tom Johnson, CNN’s former chief executive.
A former CBS and ABC newsman, Shaw took a chance and accepted an offer to become CNN’s chief anchor at its launch in 1980. He later reported before a camera hurriedly set up in a newsroom after the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Regan.
He retired at age 61 in 2001.
As moderator of a 1988 presidential debate between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, he asked the Democrat — a death penalty opponent — whether he would support that penalty for someone found guilty of raping and murdering Dukakis’ wife Kitty.
Dukakis’ coolly technocratic response was widely seen as damaging to his campaign, and Shaw said later he got a flood of hate mail for asking it.
“Since when did a question hurt a politician?” Shaw said in an interview aired by CSPAN in 2001. “It wasn’t the question. It was the answer.”
Shaw memorably reported, with correspondents Peter Arnett and John Holliman, from a hotel room in Baghdad as CNN aired stunning footage of airstrikes and anti-aircraft fire at the beginning of U.S. invasion to liberate Kuwait.
“I’ve never been there,” he said that night, “but this feels like we’re in the center of hell.”
The reports were crucial in establishing CNN when it was the only cable news network and broadcasters ABC, CBS and NBC dominated television news. “He put CNN on the map,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now a professor at George Washington University.
“In all of the years of preparing to being anchor, one of the things I strove for was to be able to control my emotions in the midst of hell breaking out,” Shaw said in a 2014 interview with NPR. “And I personally feel that I passed my stringent test for that in Baghdad.”
Shaw covered the uprising in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, signing off as authorities told CNN to stop its telecast. While at ABC, he was one of the first reporters on the scene of the 1978 Jonestown massacre.
On Twitter, CNN’s John King paid tribute to Shaw’s “soft-spoken yet booming voice” and said he was a mentor and role model to many.
“Bernard Shaw exemplified excellence in his life,” Johnson said. “He will be remembered as a fierce advocate of responsible journalism.”
Her 73-year-old son Prince Charles automatically became king upon her death and will be known as King Charles III, his office announced.
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.
The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.
A link to the almost-vanished generation that fought World War II, she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known.
Her 73-year-old son Prince Charles automatically became king upon her death and will be known as King Charles III, his office announced. Charles’ second wife, Camilla, will be known as the Queen Consort.
The impact of her loss will be huge and unpredictable, both for the nation and for the monarchy, an institution she helped stabilize and modernize across decades of huge social change and family scandals.
Prince George’s County to institute a curfew for youth 17 and under.
AUDIO:
Guests:
George Hodge – Youth advocate and founder of Community Kinship Coalition, Inc.
Patrick Washington – Executive Director, Dialect of Prince George’s County
Obamas White House portrait ceremony.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, returned to the White House Wednesday, unveiling official portraits with a modern vibe in an event that set humor and nostalgia over his presidency against the current harsh political talk about the survival of democracy.
While her husband cracked a few jokes about his gray hair, big ears and clothes in his portrait, Mrs. Obama, a descendant of slaves, said the occasion for her was more about the promise of America for people like herself.
“Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” declared President Joe Biden as the gathering cheered.
Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, praised his former boss’ leadership on health care, the economy and immigration and said nothing could have prepared him any better for being president than serving with Obama for those eight years.
“It was always about doing what was right,” he said.
The portrait of Obama, America’s 44th and first Black president, doesn’t look like any of his predecessors, nor does Michelle Obama’s look like any of the women who filled the role before her.
Obama stands expressionless against a white background, wearing a black suit and gray tie in the portrait by Robert McCurdy that looks more like a large photograph than an oil-on-canvas portrait. The former first lady, her lips pursed, is seated on a sofa in the Red Room in a strapless, light blue dress. She chose artist Sharon Sprung for her portrait.
Scores of former members of Obama’s administration were on hand for the big reveal.
Obama noted that some of them in the East Room audience had started families in the intervening years and feigned disappointment “that I haven’t heard of anyone naming a kid Barack or Michelle.”
He thanked McCurdy for his work, joking that the artist, who is known for his paintings of public figures from Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Lama, had ignored his pleas for fewer gray hairs and smaller ears. “He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” Obama quipped, referring to a widely panned appearance as president in the unflattering suit.
Obama went on to say his wife was the “best thing about living in the White House,” and he thanked Sprung for “capturing everything I love about Michelle, her grace, her intelligence — and the fact that she’s fine.”
Michelle Obama, when it was her turn, laughingly opened by saying she had to thank her husband for “such spicy remarks.” To which he retorted, by way of explanation, “I’m not running again.”
Then the former first lady turned serious, drawing a connection between unveiling the portraits and America’s promise for people with backgrounds like her own, a daughter of working-class parents from the South Side of Chicago.
“For me this day is not just about what has happened,” she said. “It’s also about what could happen, because a girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She wasn’t supposed to live in this house, and she wasn’t supposed to serve as first lady.”
Mrs. Obama said the portraits are a “reminder that there’s a place for everyone in this country.”
Tradition holds that the sitting president invites his immediate predecessor back to the White House to unveil his portrait, but Donald Trump broke with that custom and did not host Obama. So, Biden scheduled a ceremony for his former boss.
Mrs. Obama said the tradition matters “not just for those of us who hold these positions but for everyone participating in and watching our democracy.”
In remarks that never mentioned Trump but made a point as he continues to challenge his 2020 reelection loss, she added: “You see the people, they make their voices heard with their vote, we hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power … and once our time is up, we move on.”
McCurdy, meanwhile, said his “stripped down” style of portraiture helps create an “encounter” between the person in the painting and the person looking at it.
“They have plain white backgrounds, nobody gestures, nobody — there are no props because we’re not here to tell the story of the person that’s sitting for them,” McCurdy told the White House Historical Association during an interview for its “1600 Sessions” podcast.
“We’re here to create an encounter between the viewer and the sitter,” he said. “We’re telling as little about the sitter as possible so that the viewer can project onto them.”
He works from a photograph of his subject, selected from about 100 images, and spends at least a year on each portrait. Subjects have no say in how the painting looks. McCurdy said he knows he’s done “when it stops irritating me.”
Obama’s portrait is destined for display in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the traditional showcase for paintings of the two most recent presidents. Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s portraits currently hang there.
Mrs. Obama’s portrait likely will be placed with her predecessors along the hallway on the Ground Floor of the White House, joining Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.
Two spokespeople for Trump did not respond to emailed requests for comment on whether artists have begun work on White House portraits for Trump and former first lady Melania Trump. Work, however, is underway on a separate pair of Trump portraits bound for the collection held by the National Portrait Gallery, a Smithsonian museum.
The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization founded in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and funded through private donations and sales of books and an annual Christmas ornament, helps manage the White House portrait process. Since the 1960s, the association has paid for most of the portraits in the collection.
Congress bought the first painting in the collection, of George Washington. Other portraits of early presidents and first ladies often came to the White House as gifts.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are hitting the community again with their signature ministry going door-to-door. The practice had been halted because of the COVID pandemic.
The decision to resume their door-to-door ministry marks the complete restoration of all pre-pandemic in-person activities for the 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in the 13,000 congregations in the United States. Houses of worship (called Kingdom Halls) were reopened April 1, witnessing in public places resumed May 31 and in-person conventions are once again being planned for 2023. “I’m very excited to be able to go back out in the door-to-door ministry,” said Chynna Cole, who will be heading out to the Northwest D.C. neighborhood in the coming weeks.
“Although we never stopped preaching during the pandemic, meeting face-to-face is the best way to familiarize ourselves with the needs of the community and offer practical assistance from the Bible.”
The suspension of the public ministry was a proactive response by the organization to keep communities and congregants safe.
The move was also unprecedented. Jehovah’s Witnesses had been preaching from house to house without interruption for more than 100 years through an economic depression, two world wars and global unrest. But COVID-19 demanded a different response. “We believe that the early decision to shut down all in-person activities for more than two years has saved many lives,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We’re now ready and eager to reconnect with our neighbors once again –person to person, face to face. It’s not the only way that we preach, but it has historically been the most effective way to deliver our message of comfort and hope.”The move coincides with a global campaign to distribute a new interactive Bible study program available in hundreds of languages at no cost.
The program comes in the form of a book, online publication or as an embedded feature within the organization’s free mobile application, JW Library. Released in late 2020, the interactive study platform
combines text, video, illustrations and digital worksheets to help learners of all ages.
We’re taking a closer look at this difficult but very important issue.
Metro says this marks the completion of a four-year project to modernize 20 stations.
Prince George’s County moving to fine parents or guardians who allow their children to break curfew.
The move comes as the county ended August as one of its most violent on record with 24 murders. Flanked by the police chief, several council-members, and church leaders at police headquarters; Alsobrooks declared there’s an accountability problem in the county and called on the entire community to join together to help curb crime and violence in Prince George’s.
Youth violence has been particularly troubling in the county in recent weeks with youth being both the victims and in some cases the perpetrators as well. Alsobrooks and Chief Malik Aziz ran down the county’s crime stats calling them troubling and unacceptable. So far this year, more than 430 youth have been arrested, 84 have been taken into custody for carjacking, and eight have been charged with murder. “Somebody has got to take responsibility for these armed and dangerous children and it is not just the police and not just the government,” said Alsobrooks.
Much of today’s press conference was focused on youth crime. But overall, the county’s crime picture is bleak. There have been 88 murders so far this year, 211 shooting victims where the persons have survived, and 350 carjackings. Additionally, police have recovered 1,169 and have made 833 gun related arrests.
“We are making the arrests and I think the public has to understand that. But it has to be an all system solution. It has to be a case where the police have to be at the table, the state’s attorney’s office has to be at the table, the department of juvenile services has to be at the table, the court system has to be at the table… in order for this to be resolved,” said Alsobrooks.
While Alsobrooks was critical of the judicial branch, she stopped short of calling any specific names. That was not the case for Council Chairman Calvin Hawkins who did not hold back when it was his turn to give remarks. He pointed the finger of blame at State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy and at the county’s judges. “To some of you judges who are letting these individuals out, you are going to have to deal with this county council because we don’t want you presiding over those kind of cases that are putting perpetrators on the streets that are increasing the crime in our community.” said Hawkins.
Chief Aziz says a sense of fear has taken over for some residents because of the violence. “I hear from people that they are afraid to go to the gas station to even pump gas out of fear of being carjacked. So if you ask me has the pendulum swung too far (when it comes to the violence) , I believe it has,” added Chief Aziz.
On this episode of “The Journey,” President Frederick talks with Dr. Hugh Mighty, Howard University’s new Senior Vice President of Health Affairs and outgoing Dean of the College of Medicine and Vice President of Clinical Affairs.
ABOUT
Howard University Hospital and the College of Medicine have a long history of serving the community and transforming the way health care is delivered to African Americans by educating, training and developing Black physicians. This legacy has been strengthened throughout the COVID-19 pandemic where the hospital and college continue to provide vital services during a delicate state and crisis and challenging circumstances. On this episode of “The Journey,” President Frederick talks with Dr. Hugh Mighty, Howard University’s new Senior Vice President of Health Affairs and outgoing Dean of the College of Medicine and Vice President of Clinical Affairs.
Air Date: January 30, 2022
The White House is also seeking more money for monkeypox, Ukraine and natural disasters in the U.S.
Williams is looking to extend her stay at the tournament.
L’Enfant Plaza shooter who injured a bystander identified.
President Joe Biden delivers national speech condemning former president Donald Trump and his far right supporters.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden charged in a prime-time address that the “extreme ideology” of Donald Trump and his adherents “threatens the very foundation of our republic,” as he summoned Americans of all stripes to help counter what he sketched as dark forces within the Republican Party trying to subvert democracy.
In his speech Thursday at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden unleashed the trappings of the presidency in an unusually strong and sweeping indictment of Trump and what he said has become the dominant strain of the opposition party. His broadside came barely two months before Americans head to the polls in bitterly contested midterm elections that Biden calls a crossroads for the nation.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” he said before an audience of hundreds, raising his voice over pro-Trump hecklers outside the building where the nation’s founding was debated. He said he wasn’t condemning the 74 million people who voted for Trump in 2020, but added, “There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” using the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
The explicit effort by Biden to marginalize Trump and his followers marks a sharp recent turn for the president, who preached his desire to bring about national unity in his Inaugural address.
Biden, who largely avoided even referring to “the former guy” by name during his first year in office, has grown increasingly vocal in calling out Trump personally. Now, emboldened by his party’s summertime legislative wins and wary of Trump’s return to the headlines, he has sharpened his attacks, last week likening the “MAGA philosophy” to “semi-fascism.”
Wading into risky political terrain, Biden strained to balance his criticism with an appeal to more traditional Republicans to make their voices heard. Meanwhile, GOP leaders swiftly accused him of only furthering political divisions.
Delivering a preemptive rebuttal from Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Biden was born, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said it is the Democratic president, not Republicans, trying to divide Americans.
Asked about McCarthy’s criticism, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier Thursday that “we understand we hit a nerve” with the GOP leader, and quoted the Republican’s prior statements saying Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump plans a rally this weekend in the Scranton area.
White House officials said the sharp tenor of Biden’s remarks reflected his mounting concern about Trump allies’ ideological proposals and relentless denial of the nation’s 2020 election results.
“Equality and democracy are under assault” in the U.S., Biden charged, casting Trump and his backers in the GOP as a menace to the nation’s system of government, its standing abroad and its citizens’ way of life.
Trump and the MAGA Republicans “promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence,” he said. They “are determined to take this country backwards.”
“Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” he said, referencing the social issues that Democrats have looked to place front-and-center for voters this fall.
Biden’s appearance was promoted as an official, taxpayer-funded event, a mark of how the president views defeating the Trump agenda as a policy aim as much as a political one. Red and blue lights illuminated the brick of Independence Hall, as the Marine Band played “Hail to the Chief” and a pair of Marine sentries stood at parade rest in the backdrop. Still, the major broadcast television networks did not carry the address live.
The president appealed for citizens to “vote, vote, vote” to protect their democracy. “For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not.”
Biden harked back to the 2017 white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, which he said brought him out of political retirement to challenge Trump. Biden argued that the country faces a similar crossroads in the coming months, and he cast defending the “soul of the nation” as “the work of my presidency — a mission I believe in with my whole soul.”
But Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufman said in a statement that Biden was using the tactics of an authoritarian regime, “trying to turn his political opponents into an enemy of the state.”
Larry Diamond, an expert on democracy and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said calling Trump out for attacks on democracy “can be manipulated or framed as being partisan. And if you don’t call it out, you are shrinking from an important challenge in the defense of democracy.”
The White House has tried to keep Biden removed from the legal and political maelstrom surrounding the Department of Justice’s discovery of classified documents in Trump’s Florida home. Still, Biden has pointed to some Republicans’ quick condemnation of federal law enforcement, to argue “you can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American.”
His trip to Philadelphia was just one of his three to the state within a week, a sign of Pennsylvania’s importance in the midterms, with competitive Senate and governor’s races. However, neither Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democrats’ Senate nominee, nor Attorney General Josh Shapiro, their pick for governor, attended Thursday night.
The White House intended the speech to unite familiar themes: holding out bipartisan legislative wins on guns and infrastructure as evidence that democracies “can deliver,” pushing back on GOP policies on guns and abortion that Biden says are out of step with most people’s views.
The challenges have only increased since the tumult surrounding the 2020 election and the Capitol attack.
Lies surrounding that presidential race have triggered harassment and death threats against state and local election officials and new restrictions on mail voting in Republican-dominated states. County election officials have faced pressure to ban the use of voting equipment, efforts generated by conspiracy theories that voting machines were somehow manipulated to steal the election.
Candidates who dispute Trump’s loss have been inspired to run for state and local election posts, promising to restore integrity to a system that has been undermined by false claims.
There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Judges, including ones appointed by Trump, dismissed dozens of lawsuits filed after the election, and Trump’s own attorney general called the claims bogus. Yet Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling has shown about two-thirds of Republicans say they do not think Biden was legitimately elected president.
