Ahead of US Election: Biden Warns of MAGA Republicans and Political Violence North Korea Retests: Japan Launches Missile

The incumbent US president used urgent words on Wednesday (local time) to urge voters to cast their votes on Nov. 8 — and to denounce election deniers and politically motivated violence. “In a normal year, we don’t face the question of whether the vote we cast preserves or endangers democracy,” Biden said at a Democratic campaign event in Washington. “But this year we are.”

Biden pointed out that next Tuesday’s election will be the first US election since violent supporters of ex-President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I wish I could say that the attack on our democracy ended that day. But I can’t,” he said. In the upcoming election in the US, candidates at all levels are standing candidates “who do not want to commit themselves to accepting the results of the elections in which they participate.”

Biden’s Republican predecessor, Trump, has refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Without any proof, he continues to claim that he was robbed of a victory by electoral fraud. Following on from this example, individual Republicans running for mandates or office in the Nov. 8 “midterm” election leave it open whether they will accept the election results anyway.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and about a third of the seats in the Senate are up for grabs in the US midterm elections next week. Governor elections and voting for other posts are also underway in many states.

Biden, who otherwise always emphasized the importance of compromise and cooperation across party lines, had recently sharpened his rhetoric, attacking Trump and his supporters more directly than ever. In a September speech in Philadelphia, he called on Americans to take a stand “against extremism” in the midterm elections.

Trump and the so-called MAGA Republicans face an extremism that threatens the foundations of the republic. MAGA stands for Trump’s previous campaign motto “Make America Great Again”.

In his speech on Wednesday, Biden said MAGA Republicans are a minority but a “powerhouse” in the Republican party. Their false claims about the “stolen 2020 elections” have also led to a dangerous rise in politically motivated violence in the United States.

Biden again described the violent attack on Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband last Friday. The perpetrator was after the powerful Democrat himself, but did not find her during the attack.

“This driving force is trying to succeed where they failed in 2020 to suppress voter rights and undermine the electoral system itself,” Biden said. He called on candidates who deny the 2020 election results to accept the results of the upcoming midterm elections. “This struggle we are in now is a struggle for democracy, a struggle for decency and dignity, a struggle for prosperity and progress. It’s a battle for the very soul of America itself,” Biden said. (con/sda/dpa)