With former President Donald Trump set to return to the campaign trail, Biden for President wants Americans to consider what it calls a long track record of him inciting political violence.
At a press conference held at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in Washington on April 1, Biden for President’s Communications Director Michael Tyler said Trump provokes political violence as a matter of routine.
“Donald Trump chooses to traffic in violence as he seeks to regain power,” Mr. Tyler told reporters. “Donald Trump is engaging in extreme rhetoric that promotes division, hate, and violence in our country.”
Violence is “central to Trump’s brand of politics,” said Mr. Tyler, citing numerous remarks President Trump has made since his political career began ahead of the 2016 general election.
Also speaking at the press conference were former members of the U.S. Capitol Police and the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department, who were present during the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
The breach promises to be a key political issue for both the Democrat and Republican candidates in 2024. Both President Biden and President Trump are likely to make that day central to their campaigns.
Both Aquilino Gonell, formerly a sergeant with the Capitol Police, and Daniel Hodges, formerly an officer with the Metropolitan Police, denounced President Trump and his embrace of those who participated in the breach.
Mr. Gonell called President Trump’s practice of referring to the Capitol protesters patriots and political prisoners, as well as his promise to pardon them if reelected, a “slap in the face to every officer who put their lives on the line that day.”
“He doesn’t give a damn about us, he can care only about himself,” he said.
Mr. Gonnell said President Trump only supports law enforcement when it suits his political needs. He pointed out President Trump has never visited or spoken with any of the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“We cannot depend on Trump Republicans to defend the Constitution since they also have sided against law and order and the rule of law,” Mr. Gonnell said.
Mr. Hodges called President Trump and his allies “the greatest threat to our democracy across the country today.”
“Trump wants to sully law enforcement’s role in a free and fair society by having us lock up his political opponents simply for opposing them. And he has even stated that he believes we should terminate the Constitution, his word choice,” Mr. Hodges said. “This is an insult not only to those who enforce the law but every American who believes in our democracy rather than Trump’s autocratic fantasies.”
Mr. Hodges called President Trump’s forthcoming visit to Michigan a political move “because that’s how he thinks he can win the election.”
