{"id":171713,"date":"2024-01-05T20:47:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T04:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=171713"},"modified":"2024-01-05T20:47:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T04:47:40","slug":"president-biden-on-the-third-anniversary-of-the-january-6th-attack-and-defending-the-sacred-cause-of-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=171713","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on the Third Anniversary of the January 6th Attack and Defending the Sacred Cause of American Democracy |"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Bell, PA&#8230;Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Four more years! (Applause.)  THE PRESIDENT:  (Laughs.)  Well, thank you.  AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!  THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Please.  Thank you.  Please.  Thank you very, very much.  Today \u2014 the topic of my speech today is deadly serious, and I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=320&#038;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fjoebiden%2Fvideos%2F893835879104758%2F&#038;show_text=false&#038;width=640&#038;t=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"320\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowFullScreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge.  General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks: to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire that existed in the world at the time. <\/p>\n<p>His mission was clear.  Liberty, not conquest.  Freedom, not domination.  National independence, not individual glory. <\/p>\n<p>America made a vow.  Never again would we bow down to a king. <\/p>\n<p>The months ahead would be incredibly difficult.  But General Washington knew something in his bones, something about the spirit of the troops he was leading, something \u2014 something about the soul of the nation he [that] was struggling to be born.<\/p>\n<p>In his general order, he predicted, and I quote, \u201cwith one heart and one mind,\u201d \u201cwith fortitude and with patience,\u201d they would overcome every difficulty \u2014 the troops he was leading. <\/p>\n<p>And they did.  They did.<\/p>\n<p>This army that lacked blankets and food, clothes and shoes.  This army whose march left bloody, bare footprints in the snow.  This ragtag army made up of ordinary people.  Their mission, George Washington declared, was nothing less than \u201ca sacred cause.\u201d  That was the phrase used: \u201ca sacred cause.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Freedom, liberty, democracy.  American democracy. <\/p>\n<p>I just visited the grounds of Valley Forge.  I\u2019ve been there a number of times from the time I was a Boy Scout years ago.  You know, it\u2019s the very site that I think every American should visit because it tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we gather in a new year, some 246 years later, just one day before January 6th, a day forever shared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost America \u2014 lost it all. <\/p>\n<p>Today, we\u2019re here to answer the most important of questions.  Is democracy still America\u2019s sacred cause?  I mean it.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical.  Whether democracy is still America\u2019s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time, and it\u2019s what the 2024 election is all about.  <\/p>\n<p>The choice is clear.  Donald Trump\u2019s campaign is about him, not America, not you.  Donald Trump\u2019s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.  He\u2019s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power. <\/p>\n<p>Our campaign is different.  For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America.  It\u2019s about you.  It\u2019s about every age and background that occupy this country.  It\u2019s about the future we\u2019re going to continue to build together.<\/p>\n<p>And our campaign is about preserving and strengthening our American democracy.  Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol.  It was almost in disbelief as you first turned on the television. <\/p>\n<p>For the first time on our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful tranfer \u2014 transfer of power in America \u2014 first time \u2014 smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police. <\/p>\n<p>Outside, gallows were erected as the MAGA crowd chanted, \u201cHang Mike Pence.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Inside, they hunted for Speaker Pelosi [of] the House, was chanting, as they marched through and smashed windows, \u201cWhere\u2019s Nancy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over 140 police officers were injured.  Jill and I attended the funeral of police officers who died as a result of the events of that day. <\/p>\n<p>And because Donald \u2014 because of Donald Trump\u2019s lies, they died because these lies brought a mob to Washington. <\/p>\n<p>He promised it would be \u201cwild,\u201d and it was.  He told the crowd to \u201cfight like hell,\u201d and all hell was unleashed. <\/p>\n<p>He promised he would right them \u2014 right them.  Everything they did, he would be side by side with them.  Then, as usual, he left the dirty work to others.  He retreated to the White House.<\/p>\n<p>As America was attacked from within, Donald Trump watched on TV in the private small dining room off my Oval \u2014 off the Oval Office. <\/p>\n<p>The entire nation watched in horror.  The whole world watched in disbelief.  And Trump did nothing. <\/p>\n<p>Members of his staff, members of his family, Republican leaders who were under attack for the \u2014 at that very moment pled with him: \u201cAct.  Call off the mob.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Imagine had he gone out and said, \u201cStop.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And still, Trump did nothing.  It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history: an attempt to overturn a free and fair election by force and violence.<\/p>\n<p>A record 81 million people voted for my candidacy and to end his presidency.  Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million. <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s claims about the 2020 election never could stand up in court.  Trump lost 60 court cases \u2014 60.  Trump lost the Republican-controlled states.  Trump lost before a Trump-appointed judge \u2014 and then judges.  And Trump lost before the United States Supreme Court.  (Applause.)  All of it, he lost.<\/p>\n<p>Trump lost recount after recount after recount in state after state.  But in desperation and weakness, Trump and his MAGA followers went after election officials who en- \u2014 who ensured your power as a citizen would be heard.  These public servants had their lives forever upended by attacks and death threats for simply doing their jobs.<\/p>\n<p>In Atlanta, Georgia, a brave Black mother and her daughter, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were doing their jobs as elected workers until Donald Trump and his MAGA followers targeted and threatened them, forcing them from their homes and unleashing racist vitriol on them.  Trump\u2019s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was just hit with $148 million judgment for cruelty and defamation that he inflicted against them. <\/p>\n<p>Other state and local elected officials across the country faced similar personal attacks.  In addition, Fox News agreed to pay a record $8- \u2014 $787 million for the lies they told about voter fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s be clear about the 2020 election.  Trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the election \u2014 every one.  But the legal path just took Trump back to the truth that I had won the election and he was a loser.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Well, knowing how his mind works now, he had one \u2014 he had one act left \u2014 one desperate act available to him: the violence of January the 6th. <\/p>\n<p>And since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol.  Nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty.  Collectively, to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And what has Trump done?  Instead of calling them \u201ccriminals,\u201d he\u2019s called these exsurrec- \u2014 these insurrectionists \u201cpatriots.\u201d  They\u2019re \u201cpatriots.\u201d  And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office. <\/p>\n<p>Trump said that there was \u201ca lot of love\u201d on January the 6th.  The rest of the nation, including law enforcement, saw a lot of hate and violence.  One Capitol police officer called it a \u201cmedieval battle.\u201d  That same officer called vile \u2014 was called vile, racist names. <\/p>\n<p>He said he was more afraid in the Capitol of the United States of America, in the chambers, than when he was fighting as a soldier in the war in Iraq.  He said he was more afraid inside the halls of Congress than fighting in the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>In trying to rewrite the facts of January 6th, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.  But he \u2014 we knew the truth because we saw it with our own eyes.  It wasn\u2019t like something \u2014 a story being told.  It was on television repeatedly.  We saw it with our own eyes. <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s mob wasn\u2019t a peaceful protest.  It was a violent assault.  They were insurrectionists, not patriots.  They weren\u2019t there to uphold the Constitution; they were there to destroy the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Trump won\u2019t do what an American president must do.  He refuses to denounce political violence. <\/p>\n<p>So, hear me clearly.  I\u2019ll say what Donald Trump won\u2019t.  Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system \u2014 never, never, never.  It has no place in a democracy.  None.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. <\/p>\n<p>You know, Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it.  At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi\u2019s skull and echoing the very same words used on January 6th: \u201cWhere\u2019s Nancy?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And he thinks that\u2019s funny.  He laughed about it.  What a sick \u2014 (laughter and applause).  My God.<\/p>\n<p>I think it\u2019s despicable, seriously \u2014 not just for a president, for any person to say that.  But to say it to the whole world listening. <\/p>\n<p>When I was overseas \u2014 anyway.  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s assault on democracy isn\u2019t just part of his past.  It\u2019s what he\u2019s promising for the future.  He\u2019s being straightforward.  He\u2019s not hiding the ball. <\/p>\n<p>His first rally for the 2024 campaign opened with a choir of January 6th insurrectionists singing from prison on a cell phone while images of the January 6th riot played on a big screen behind him at his rally.<\/p>\n<p>Can you believe that?  This is like something out of a fairy tale \u2014 a bad fairy tale.<\/p>\n<p>Trump began his 2024 campaign by glorifying the failed violent insurrectionist \u2014 insurrection at our \u2014 on our Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>The guy who claims law and order sows lawlessness and disorder.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s not concerned about your future, I promise you.  Trump is now promising a full-scale campaign of \u201crevenge\u201d and \u201cretribution\u201d \u2014 his words \u2014 for some years to come.  They were his words, not mine.  He went on to say he would be a dictator on day one.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, if I were writing a book of fiction and I said an American president said that, and not in jest \u2014<\/p>\n<p>He called it, and I quote, the termina- \u2014 quote \u2014 this is a quote \u2014 the \u201ctermination of all the rules, regulation, and articles, even those found in the U.S. Constitution,\u201d should be terminated, if it\u2019s his will.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s really kind of hard to believe.  Even found in the Constitution, he could terminate?<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s threatened the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the death penalty.  Says he should be put to death because the Chairman put his oath to the Constitution ahead of his personal loyalty to Trump.<\/p>\n<p>This coming from a president who called \u2014 when he visited a ce- \u2014 a cemetery, called dead soldiers \u201csuckers\u201d and \u201closers.\u201d  Remember that?<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, I\u2019m really happy the Irish in me can\u2019t be seen.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>It was right around the time I was at Beau\u2019s grave, Tommy.<\/p>\n<p>How dare he?  Who in God\u2019s name does he think he is?<\/p>\n<p>With former aides, Trump plans to invoke the Ins- \u2014 Insurrectionist Act \u2014 the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy \u2014 which he\u2019s not allowed to do in ordinary circumstances \u2014 allow him to deploy U.S. military forces on the streets of America.  He said it.<\/p>\n<p>He calls those who oppo- \u2014 oppose him \u201cvermin.\u201d  He talks about the blood of Americans being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n<p>He proudly posts on social media the words that best describe his 2024 campaign, quote, \u201crevenge\u201d; quote, \u201cpower\u201d; and, quote, \u201cdictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no confusion about who Trump is and what he intends to do.<\/p>\n<p>I placed my hand on our family Bible, and I swore an oath on the very same steps of the Capitol just 14 days after the attack on January the 6th.<\/p>\n<p>As I looked out over the capital city, whose streets were lined with National Guard to prevent another attack, I saw an American that had been pushed to the brink \u2014 an America that had been pushed to the brink.<\/p>\n<p>But I felt enormous pride \u2014 not in winning.  I felt enormous pride in America because American democracy had been tested and American democracy had held together.  And when Trump had seen weakness in our democracy and continues to talk about it, I saw strength \u2014 your strength.  It\u2019s not hyperbole.  Your strength.  Your integrity.  American strength and integrity.<\/p>\n<p>Ordinary citizens, state election officials, the American judicial system had put the Constitution first and sometimes at their peril \u2014 at their peril.<\/p>\n<p>Because of them, because of you, the will of the people prevailed, not the anger of the mob or the appetites of one man.<\/p>\n<p>When the attack on January 6th happened, there was no doubt about the truth.  At the time, even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators publicly and privately condemned the attack.<\/p>\n<p>As one Republican senator said, \u201cTrump\u2019s behavior was embarrassing and humiliating for the country.\u201d  But now, that same senator and those same people have changed their tune.<\/p>\n<p>As time has go one \u2014 gone on, politics, fear, money, all have intervened.  And now these MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump on January 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy.<\/p>\n<p>They made their choice.  Now the rest of us \u2014 Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans \u2014 we have to make our choice.<\/p>\n<p>I know mine.  And I believe I know America\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>We will defend the truth, not give in to the Big Lie.  We\u2019ll embrace the Constitution and the Declaration, not abandon it.  We\u2019ll honor the sacred cause of democracy, not walk away from it.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I make this sacred pledge to you.  The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>America, as we begin this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot.  Your freedom is on the ballot.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we\u2019ll be voting on many issues: on the freedom to vote and have your vote counted, on the freedom of choice, the freedom to have a fair shot, the freedom from fear.  And we\u2019ll debate and disagree. <\/p>\n<p>Without democracy, no progress is (inaudible) possible.  Think about it.  The alternative to democracy is dictatorship \u2014 the rule of one, not the rule of \u201cWe the People.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what the soldiers of Valley Forge understood.  And so was me \u2014 was what we have to understand it as well.  We\u2019ve been blessed so long with a strong, stable democracy.  It\u2019s easy to forget why so many before us risked their lives and strengthened democracy, what our lives would be without it.<\/p>\n<p>Democracy means having the freedom to speak your mind, to be who you are, to be who you want to be.  Democracy is about being able to bring about peaceful change.  Democracy \u2014 democracy is how we\u2019ve opened the doors of opportunity wider and wider with each successive generation, notwith- \u2014 notwithstanding our mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>But if democracy falls, we\u2019ll lose that freedom.  We\u2019ll lose the power of \u201cWe the People\u201d to shape our destiny.  If you doubt me, look around the world.  Travel with me as I meet with other heads of state throughout the world. <\/p>\n<p>Look at the authoritarian leaders and dictators Trump says he admires \u2014 he, out loud, says he admires.  I won\u2019t go through them all.  It would take too long.<\/p>\n<p>Look, remember how he fers- \u2014 when he \u2014 when he refers to what he calls the \u201clove letter\u201d exchanges between he and the dictator of North Korea?  Those women and men out there in the audience who ever fought for the American military, would you ever believe you\u2019d hear a president say something like that?<\/p>\n<p>His admiration for Putin \u2014 I can go on. <\/p>\n<p>And look at what these autocrats are doing to limit freedom in their countries.  They\u2019re limiting freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, women\u2019s rights, LGB[T]Q rights, people are going to jail, so much more. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true: The push and pull of American history is not a fairy tale.  Every stride forward in America is met with a ferocious backlash, many times from those who fear progress and those who exploit that fear for their own personal gain; from those who traffic in lies told for power and profit; from those who are driven by grievance and grift, consumed by conspiracy and victimhood; from those who seek to bury history and ban books.<\/p>\n<p>Did you ever think you\u2019d be at a political event talking about book banning for a presidential \u2014 in a presidential election? <\/p>\n<p>The choice and contest between those forces \u2014 those competing forces, between solidarity and division \u2014 is perennial.  But this time, it\u2019s so different. <\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t have a contest \u2014 you can\u2019t have a contest if you see politics as an all-out war instead of a peaceful way to resolve our differences.  All-out war is what Trump wants. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t understand the most fundamental truth about this country.  Unlike other nations on Earth, America is not built on ethnicity, religion, geography.  We\u2019re the only nation in the history of the world built on an idea \u2014 not hyperbole \u2014 built on an idea: \u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an idea declared in the Declaration, created in a way that we viewed everybody as equal and be \u2014 should be treated equally throughout their lives.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve never fully lived up to that.  We have a long way to go.  But we\u2019ve never walked away from the idea.  We\u2019ve never walked away from it before.  But I promise you, I will not let Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans \u2014 (applause) \u2014 force us to walk away now.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re living in an era where a determined minority is doing everything in its power to try to destroy our democracy for their own agenda.  The American people know it, and they\u2019re standing bravely in the breach. <\/p>\n<p>Remember, after 2020, January 6th insurrection to undo the election in which more Americans had voted than any other in American history?  America saw the threat posed to the country, and they voted him out.  In 2022, historic midterm election, in state after state, election after election, the election deniers were defeated. <\/p>\n<p>Now, in 2024, Trump in running as the \u201cdenier-in-chief\u201d \u2014 the election denier-in-chief.  Once again, he\u2019s saying he won\u2019t honor the results of the election if he loses.<\/p>\n<p>Trump says he doesn\u2019t understand.  Well, he still doesn\u2019t understand the basic truth, and that is you can\u2019t love your country only when you win.  (Applause.)  You can\u2019t love your country only when you win.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u2019ll keep my commitment to be president for all of America, whether you voted for me or not.  I\u2019ve done it for the last three years, and I\u2019ll continue to do it. <\/p>\n<p>Together, we can keep proving that America is still a country that believes in decency, dignity, honesty, honor, truth.  We still believe that no one, not even the President, is above the law.  We still believe \u2014 (applause) \u2014 the vast majority of us still believe that everyone deserves a fair shot at making it.  We\u2019re still a nation that gives hate no safe harbor. <\/p>\n<p>I tell you from my experience working with leaders around the world \u2014 and I mean this sincerely, not a joke \u2014 that America is still viewed as the beacon of democracy for the world. <\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t tell you how many \u2014 how many world leaders \u2014 and I know all of them, virtually all of them \u2014 grab my arm in private and say, \u201cHe can\u2019t win.  Tell me.  No, my country will be at risk.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Think of how many countries, Tommy, you know that are on the br- \u2014 on the edge.  Imagine. <\/p>\n<p>We still believe in \u201cWe the People,\u201d and that includes all of us, not some of us.<\/p>\n<p>Let me close with this.  On that cold winter of 1777, George Washington and his American troops at Valley Forge waged a battle on behalf of a revolutionary idea that everyday people \u2014 like where I come from and the vast majority of you \u2014 not a king or a dictator \u2014 that everyday people can govern themselves without a king or a dictator. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, in the rotunda of the Capitol, there\u2019s a giant painting of General George Washington \u2014 not President Washington \u2014 and he is resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. <\/p>\n<p>A European king at this \u2014 at the time said, after he won the revolution, \u201cNow is the time for him to declare his kingship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But instead, the mob that attacked the Capitol, waving Trump flags and Confederate flags, stormed right past that portrait.  That image of George Washington gave them no pause, but it should have.<\/p>\n<p>The artist that painted that portrait memorialized that moment because he said it was, quote, \u201cone of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world.\u201d  End of quote.<\/p>\n<p>George Washington was at the height of his power.  Having just defeated the most powerful empire on Earth, could have held onto the power as long as he wanted.  He could have made himself not a future president but a future monarch, in effect. <\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, when he got elected president, he could have stayed for two, three, four, five terms, until he died.  But that wasn\u2019t the America he and the American troops at Valley Forge had fought for.<\/p>\n<p>In America, genuine leaders \u2014 democratic leaders, with a small \u201cd\u201d \u2014 don\u2019t hold on to power relentlessly.  Our leaders return power to the people.  And they do it willingly, because that\u2019s the deal.  You do your duty.  You serve your country. <\/p>\n<p>And ours is a country worther- \u2014 worthy of service, as many Republican presidents and Democratic presidents have shown over the years. <\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re not perfect.  But at our best, we face on \u2014 we face head on the good, the bad, the truth of who we are.  We look in the mirror and ultimately never pretend we\u2019re something we\u2019re not.  That\u2019s what great nations do.  And we\u2019re a great nation.  We\u2019re the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.  We really are.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the America I see in our future.  We get up.  We carry on.  We never bow.  We never bend.  We speak of possibilities, not carnage.  We\u2019re not weighed down by grievances.  We don\u2019t foster fear.  We don\u2019t walk around as victims. <\/p>\n<p>We take charge of our destiny.  We get our job done with our peop- \u2014 the help of the people we find in America, who find their place in the changing world and dream and build a future that not only they but all people deserve a shot at. <\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t believe \u2014 none of you believe America is failing.  We know America is winning.  That\u2019s American patriotism.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not winning because of Joe Biden.  It\u2019s winning. <\/p>\n<p>This is the first national election since January 6th insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy \u2014 since that moment.  We all know who Donald Trump is.  The question we have to answer is: Who are we?  That\u2019s what\u2019s at stake.  (Applause.)  Who are we? <\/p>\n<p>In the year ahead, as you talk to your family and friends, cast your ballots, the power is in your hands.  After all we\u2019ve been through in our history, from independence to Civil War to two world wars to a pandemic to insurrection, I refuse to believe that, in 2024, we Americans will choose to walk away from what\u2019s made us the greatest nation in the history of the world: freedom, liberty.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Democracy is still a sacred cause.  And there\u2019s no country in the world better positioned to lead the world than America. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why \u2014 (applause) \u2014 I\u2019ve said it many times.  That\u2019s why I\u2019ve never been more optimistic about our future.  And I\u2019ve been doing this a hell of a long time.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Just have to remember who we are \u2014 with patience and fortitude, with one heart.  We are the United States of America, for God\u2019s sake.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>I mean it.  There is nothing \u2014 I believe with every fiber that there is nothing beyond our capacity if we act together and decently with one another.  Nothing, nothing, nothing.  (Applause.)  I mean it.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re the only nation in the world that\u2019s come out of every crisis stronger than we went into that crisis.  That was true yesterday and it\u2019s true today, and I guarantee you will be true tomorrow. <\/p>\n<p>God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>(The First Lady joins the President onstage.)  I understand power.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all so very much.  (Inaudible.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>3:56 P.M. EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Bell, PA&#8230;Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) AUDIENCE MEMBER: Four more years! (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) Well, thank you. AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please. Thank you. Please. Thank you very, very much. Today \u2014 the topic of my speech today is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Fullscreen-capture-152024-84545-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171715,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171713\/revisions\/171715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/171714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}