I thank them from the bottom of my heart, and I know the resilience of our constitution and the strength, the strength of our nation, as does president Carter who I spoke with last night, who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime and service. I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here today. As we look ahead in our uniquely American way, restless, bold, optimistic, and set our sights on the nation we know we can be, and we must be. We come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries. So now on this hallowed ground where just a few days ago violence sought to shake the capital’s very foundation. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. The people, the will of the people, has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded. Today we celebrate the triumph, not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy. America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. A day of history and hope of renewal and resolve through a crucible for the ages. It was about protecting against it.Chief Justice Roberts, Vice president Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans. But if you listened to Biden’s words and observe his actions - which took place as Trump is effectively moving toward launching a paramilitary - it's clear that this speech wasn’t about praising or glorifying martial law. And I understand why that symbolism, amplified perhaps by the dramatic red backlighting, may have felt ominous. Personally, I wouldn’t have used Marines in my photo-op.
The military's allegiance is to the state, not to a political party or leader. And that’s obviously appropriate, since the civilian-military divide remains a bedrock of democracy. Biden hasn’t actually tried to bring the military into political affairs and civilian life. Trump wanted the military to serve as a personal security force - he longed to repress dissidents, and to deploy the National Guard on Jan. But Biden was in reality responding to Trump's attempted politicization of it.īoth Trump and now Biden have played with the symbolism of the military’s relationship with democracy in political oratory, but toward radically different ends: Trump wished to use the military to subvert democracy, while Biden hopes that the military will help protect it. Some analysts criticized Biden for symbolically politicizing the military. In 2020, more than half of the military’s officer corps said they strongly disapproved of the president, a phenomenon likely explained by military officers’ attachment to legal norms and propriety, and their relatively high levels of education (one of the most common predictors of opposition to Trump). Trump’s defense secretary, Mark Esper, publicly shot down his calls to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would have deployed troops to the streets. Milley and other military officials talked Trump down after he called on them to shoot protesters in the legs, and they covertly maneuvered to ensure a peaceful transfer of power as Trump manufactured lies about election fraud. Top military officials were instrumental in thwarting Trump’s insurrection attempts when he was in office. “We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it.” He implied those Marines, who stood with him in front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was approved and where the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, are a key part of protecting democracy.īiden’s faith (probably) isn’t misplaced. “For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it’s not,” Biden said. It was an answer to Trump's attempts to thwart a peaceful transfer of power and mobilize the military against democracy during his tenure. By placing Marines in his periphery, Biden aimed to showcase his faith in the military apparatus and its ability to back the democratic order - to defend against future attacks on the electoral system. Biden focused in his remarks on identifying Trump and his most hardcore supporters as a danger to the republic, with their disregard for democratic rule and their propensity for political violence. But that doesn't really explain why they were at this specific event. The White House said in a statement on Friday that it was a gesture of "respect" for these service members.
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