Prior to next week’s midterm elections, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Thursday echoed President Joe Biden’s closing remarks by saying that Republicans offer actual “threats to our country.”
On AWN, Clinton said, “They’re going after democracy and even counting votes those they think will help them instead of others that won’t.” They really are threats, both to us as individuals and to our daily lives as well as to our nation.
Clinton’s remarks echoed the language used by Biden in his speech at Union Station on Wednesday night, during which the president gave a stern warning that the nation’s democracy was in danger of collapsing. The Senate is still up for grabs going into Tuesday’s midterm elections, and Republicans have a good chance of taking back the House.
In his speech, Vice President Biden denounced political violence and “lies of conspiracy and malice,” and he forewarned the public that Republican leaders and activists were attempting to sway Tuesday’s election.
In his remarks, Biden stated that “we know democracy is at risk in our bones.”
Biden wanted to “issue one final warning” on the threat to democracy before the midterm elections, according to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, “to make very clear” that people are still spreading “the Big Lie” — the untrue claim by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 election was rigged. According to Klain, Republicans bringing up the subject of election fraud in the impending midterm elections as well as the violent assault on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband last week had an impact on Biden’s decision to give a speech.
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Klain stated, “I think all those elements came together and prompted the president to make the forceful remarks he made last night.”
In their pre-midterm messaging, Biden and his team of White House spokespeople have gone to great lengths to draw a distinction between what they refer to as more mainstream Republicans and the GOP’s “ultra-MAGA” wing of devoted Trump followers. With their refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and their attempts to gain more influence over the country’s electoral infrastructure, the latter group, according to Biden, poses a threat to democracy.
According to Klain, “I think the president’s remarks last night, which were very forceful and bipartisan, made it clear that the majority of Republicans, like the vast majority of Democrats, oppose political violence but targeting and talking about the MAGA Republican officials who were stoking this.”
Clinton did not make a such difference in her interview with AWN. It is “ironic,” she said, since Republicans are running their campaigns on the issue of crime but then “fell mute” after the attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband last week. She claimed that Republicans aren’t worried about voter safety but “want to keep voters terrified.” In addition, even while many prominent Republicans denounced the assault on Paul Pelosi, others in the GOP made jokes about the heinous break-in that left the 82-year-old with a broken skull.
Clinton added, “I find it odd and simply troubling that the Republicans remain mute about that crime when Paul Pelosi is attacked by an invader in his own home with a hammer. Voter safety is not a priority for them. They simply want to instil fear in the hearts and minds of the electorate because they believe that this will increase their chances of winning, which is regrettable.
The former secretary of State acknowledged that getting people to vote in a midterm election is a “uphill battle,” and she attributed some of the party’s poor polling numbers to a “turnout issue” rather than a message problem. While voters are mostly concerned about the economy and inflation, Democrats have predominantly focused their campaigns on the topic of abortion rights.
Clinton emphasised that Republicans “have absolutely no strategy to do anything about” costs of living and the economy, claiming that it is challenging to “explain people what’s going to happen in the future” when they are primarily focused on the present. She cited Republican intentions to restructure Medicare and Social Security.
She did, however, acknowledge one issue with the Democratic Party’s messaging during the midterm election cycle: it did not adequately communicate what had been accomplished during the first two years of Biden’s presidency. She cited investments in manufacturing, new infrastructure, and cost-cutting strategies for healthcare.
In reality, the Democrats’ efforts to support the economy and assist people in coping with inflation—not just American inflation—across the globe have been very amazing. And we need to communicate that message more effectively,” said Clinton.
Later on Thursday in New York, Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at a rally for New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul is vying for governor of the blue state against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in a surprisingly close campaign. The RealClearPolitics polling average indicates that Hochul’s lead, which was once in the double digits, is currently 6.2 percentage points.
At the rally tonight, where I’ll be speaking alongside Gov. Hochul and Vice President Harris, Clinton said, “I think you’ll see a really strong message about how this election has to be put on the front burner for everyone and voters need to turn out and vote for themselves, vote for making a real difference in their lives.”
