Not hours after the House of Representativescharged himwith inciting an insurrection against the government, PresidentDonald Trumpreleased a speech reversing his tone about a crisis that has already led to his historic second impeachment and may soon overshadow his post-White House life.
In the prerecorded remarks, posted late Wednesday afternoon, he “unequivocally condemn[ed]” last week’s deadly riot at the Capitol — a familiar phrase for a president who has often had to clarify his stance on controversy after initial reluctance.
He went on to call for cooler heads and cooler words and a sense of national unity to prevail.
But in keeping with the bizarrely blinkered and unusually decorous tone of the five-minute speech, President Trump, 74, did not mention successorJoe Biden(whom he had repeatedly, and without evidence, accused of stealing the election) or the impeachment proceedings.
And rather than attack Biden or the Democratic Party or the electoral process that saw him defeated in November, as he has done the last two months, Trump spoke largely in generalities about healing and reconciliation — tonal whiplash for a politician whose career was built on name-calling and provocation.
He made no reference to his previous statements about the Jan. 6 rioters, whom he had encouraged to march on the Capitol following a rally near the White House and whom he had praised as “very special” after they descended into mob violence, warning in the immediate aftermath that “these are the things and events that happen when … great patriots … have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.”
In his speech on Wednesday, he also did not reference any of the five people who died in the rioting, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
“My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the troubling events of the past week,” he began his speech. “As I have said, the incursion of the U.S. Capitol struck at the very heart of our Republic. It angered and appalled millions of Americans across the political spectrum.”
President Donald Trump heads to Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday.Drew Angerer/Getty
“Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement,” Trump said. “‘Making America great again’ has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement and upholding our nation’s most sacred traditions and values. Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for.”
Acknowledging that federal authorities are aware of possible future gatherings of armed protesters and the potential for more violence, Trump said that “no true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag. No true supporter of mine could ever threaten or harass their fellow Americans. If you do anything of these things, you are not supporting our movement, you’re attacking it and you’re attacking our country. We cannot tolerate it.”
Referring to next week’s inauguration of President-elect Biden, Trump said Wednesday that he had “directed federal agencies to use all necessary resources to maintain order. In Washington, D.C., we are bringing in thousands of National Guard members to secure the city and ensure that a transition can occur safely and without incident.”
“Today I am calling on all Americans to overcome the passions of the moment and join together as one American people,” the president said. “Let us choose to move forward united, for the good of our families, our communities and our country.”
Trump devoted the final section of his speech to “the unprecedented assault on free speech we have seen in recent days,” a barely veiled reference to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other digital media companies who booted him from their platforms — temporarily or indefinitely — in connection with last week’s violence.
The Senate could also vote to bar Trump from ever holding federal office again.
“Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough,” Rep. Liz Cheney, the chair of the House Republican Conference and the No. 3 Republican in the House, said in a statement this week announcing she would vote to impeach. “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President.”
In her own speech on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Trump was “a clear and present danger to the nation we all love.”
source: people.com
