How the 'terror of autocracy' could make or break the 2024 election

08 January 2024

As president, Joe Biden has avoided mentioning Donald Trump by name — often referring to him as "the former guy." But that changed in a major way on Friday, January 5, when Biden delivered a scathing anti-Trump speech in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia.

The day before the third anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, Biden slammed Trump for promoting "political violence" and warned, "You can't be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American."

Journalist A.B. Stoddard applauds Biden's passionate speech in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on January 8, stressing that he is right to make saving U.S. democracy a core theme of his reelection campaign.

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"As Biden said in Valley Forge, by abandoning truth, Republicans are abandoning democracy," Stoddard writes. "Without objective truth in a rules-based system, we will have anarchy and tyranny. Any Republicans who endorse Trump this year and lies about the 2020 election, or about January 6th, are not just complicit in spreading his falsehoods — they are also helping to perpetrate an ongoing attack on the rule of law and our constitutional system, because Trump will demand they lie about the next election also."

Stoddard continues, "On Sunday, (January 7), Rep. Elise Stefanik refused to commit to accepting the results of the election. 'We will see if this is a legal and valid election,' she said on NBC. Failure of Democrats to highlight that to voters, and to warn of the danger of it, would be an abdication."

Stoddard disagrees with pundits who are saying that an emphasis on saving U.S. democracy won't be a strong reelection message for Biden. In fact, she argues that the "terror of autocracy" could be a motivator for swing voters who have been feeling lukewarm about Biden's reelection campaign.

"Voters could use some help appreciating just what democracy means, which is why Biden's speech should be a starting point," Stoddard writes. "Biden and the other Democrat on the ballot this year have to reach those voters. They have to motivate those Americans who are frustrated about inflation and immigration but who appreciate the threat to democracy to get out and vote."

Stoddard continues, "The fragility of democracy won’t bring everyone to the table, but it can inspire enough votes on the margins where it matters. Americans who better understand, come November, that this could be their last vote, will be more likely to cast it."

A.B. Stoddard's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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