With less than a week to go before the midterm elections, President Joe Biden has singled out Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a threat to democracy.
“The point I’m making in telling you this is Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate,” he said this week during a campaign rally for DeSantis’ Democrat challenger in the gubernatorial election, Charlie Crist.
“Democracy is on the ballot,” said Biden. “I literally mean it. Not hyperbole.”
Like former President Trump, DeSantis is an election denier who has questioned whether Biden won in 2020. Election deniers have failed to produce evidence of election fraud, though DeSantis announced 20 arrests related to his election fraud claims.
Last January, election fraud claims also fueled the deadly Capitol riot.
“How can you say you are not supporting autocracy and your… democracy when you call the people who storm the Capitol and kill – end up two cops dying, so many people hurt by the thousands – broke down the doors of the House and the Senate,” patriots, said Biden.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, DeSantis said on the anniversary of the attack that the media used it as a way to smear Republicans.
Biden compared DeSantis’ response to the unfounded conspiracy theories about the attack last week that landed Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul in surgery for a skull fracture. David DePape, the 42-year-old man who has been charged with the attack shouted the “Where’s Nancy” chant Capitol rioters used on Jan. 6.
“I’ve been talking to Nancy Pelosi,” said Biden. “Look what happened. And look at the response – the so-called response from Republicans, making jokes about it.”
He also slammed DeSantis for the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” education legislation in Florida. He said that DeSantis demonizes the LGBTQ+ community and “anyone who disagrees with him.”
While Biden has offered his support to Crist, an attorney and politician, the latest polls for Five Thirty Eight show DeSantis in a strong lead. As of Thursday, the outlet estimated that Crist’s chances of winning were two in 100.
Last month, poll results indicated that conservative voters trusted DeSantis even more than Trump as a potential leader of the GOP. However, Trump seemed confident this summer that he would be able to secure party nomination over DeSantis if they both ran for president in 2024.
“A lot is on the ballot,” Biden said of the midterms. “This is a genuine inflection point in American history. How we decide the next four years is going to determine what this country looks like 40 years from now. Not a joke.”
Later in the week, Biden stressed that Americans should stand up for democracy again during a speech in Washington, D.C.
“My fellow Americans, we’re facing a defining moment, an inflection point,” he said. “And we must – with one overwhelming, unified voice – speak as a country and say there is no place – no place – for voter intimidation or political violence in America, whether it’s directed at Democrats or Republicans. No place, period. No place ever.”
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