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Skip to content Toggle Menu Open Navigation Close Navigation * Close search form * News * Senate * House * Administration * Courts * Campaign * 2024 Elections * Health Care * Media * Education * Latino * LGBTQ * Race & Politics * State Watch * In The Know * Changing America * People in the News * Print Edition * Policy * Defense * Energy & Environment * Health Care * Technology * Transportation * International * Cybersecurity * National Security * Space * Sustainability * Business * All business news * Budget * Economy * Personal finance * Housing * Lobbying * Taxes * Trade * Health * Opinion * Columnists * Congress Blog * All Contributors * Campaign * Civil Rights * Criminal Justice * Cybersecurity * Education * Energy and Environment * Finance * Healthcare * Immigration * International * Judiciary * National Security * Technology * White House * Submit Opinion Content * Events * Upcoming Events * About * Jobs * Government Affairs Jobs * National Jobs * Work for The Hill * Video * Newsletters * Sign up * Morning Report * 12:30 Report * Business & Economy * Defense * Health Care * Campaign Report * Technology * Energy & Environment * Sustainability * SIGN UP TO OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER Sign Up * Search Search TRENDING: * Alexander Smirnov * Fani Willis * Alina Habba * CBS News JUST IN... * Man arrested for making ‘violent threat’ to Arizona election official in 2022 Court Battles - 6h 22m ago * Five things to know about the Odysseus moon landing Technology - 6h 25m ago * Mulvaney: Trump Veepstakes could ‘drag out’ Campaign - 6h 33m ago * Zelensky on Tucker Carlson interview with Putin: ‘two hours of bulls—’ International - 6h 55m ago * ‘Norovirus’ slams Northeast US hardest in recent weeks: CDC Health Care - 7h 13m ago * Sherman: Biden calling Putin a ‘crazy SOB’ okay for campaign trail, not diplomatic discussion House - 7h 44m ago * Louisiana lawmakers advance bill allowing concealed carry without permit State Watch - 7h 50m ago * Odysseus makes historic lunar landing: ‘Welcome to the moon’ Space - 9h 57m ago View all Load more Opinion>Campaign The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill JOE BIDEN IS NO GEORGE WASHINGTON, AND VALLEY FORGE PROVED IT by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 01/06/24 10:30 AM ET Facebook Share Twitter Tweet ... More by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 01/06/24 10:30 AM ET Facebook Share Twitter Tweet ... More Share ✕ Twitter Twitter Facebook Facebook LinkedIn LinkedIn Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Email Video Player is loading. Play Video Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 2:50 Loaded: 3.53% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE 1x Playback Rate Chapters * Chapters Descriptions * descriptions off, selected Captions * captions settings, opens captions settings dialog * captions off, selected * Subtitles (en) Audio Track * default, selected * Quality * 360p * 720p * 1080p * Auto, selected FullscreenSharePause This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Biden condemns Trump, Jan. 6 uprising in speech on democracy The Hill's Headlines - Feb. 22, 2024 Trump lists possible VPs - The Daily Debrief Rising: Top Headlines for February 22, 2024 Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on James Biden impeachment probe Rep. Raskin: Biden impeachment ‘essentially ended’ with Smirnov bombshell Biden administration set to unveil new Russia sanctions - The Daily Debrief President’s brother James Biden to testify on alleged influence dealing Capital One acquires Discover Bank in $35.3 billion deal - The Daily Debrief Joe Manchin on candidacy NASA seeks volunteers for Mars simulation - The Daily Debrief Advertisement: 0:03 “This is like something out of a fairy tale, a bad fairy tale.” That line, from the speech of President Joe Biden at Valley Forge this week, may have been the most accurate observation in the entire address kicking off Biden’s 2024 campaign. The speech was a masterpiece of contradiction. Biden started by denouncing how Donald Trump’s campaign is only “about him” and “obsessed with the past.” He then spent virtually all of the speech obsessing about Trump and Jan. 6, 2021. It was an early indication of the Orwellian character of the speech. Facing the lowest polling numbers of any modern president, Biden attempted a constructive substitution. “Democracy is on the ballot,” he said. So voters do not have to vote for him. When they see Biden, they should just read “democracy.” That will require more than an act of substitution in the voting booth. It would require an act of willful blindness. Biden spoke of how Democrats are fighting to protect the “right to vote.” Democratic activists and officials across the country are seeking to remove Trump from the ballot even though he is the most popular choice for the presidency right now. In fact, dozens of Democratic officials have sought to remove 126 Republicans from Congress on the same basis. Even as Biden was telling citizens to vote Democrat to preserve democracy, a Democratic activist was seeking to remove a GOP congressman from the ballot in a nearby Pennsylvania district. Biden’s speech would be more credible if he had joined principled Democratic politicians who have denounced this nationwide effort. As usual, he has remained silent as he did on court packing in the last election. It would also have been a tad more convincing if his party were not preventing citizens from voting for anyone other than Biden in the primary. Florida called its Democratic primary for Biden and blocked opposing candidates, despite two-thirds of Democrats wanting an alternative to Biden. Faced with such polling numbers, the party establishment is so committed to democracy that it has decided voters cannot be trusted with a choice. North Carolina’s Democrats became the latest to bar anyone but Biden from the ballot. Democratic officials are approaching democracy the way Henry Ford responded to calls for different color choices for the Model T. He pledged to provide “any color the customer wants, as long as it’s black.” In this election, voters can choose anyone they want, as long as it is Biden. For millions of voters, democracy may be on the ballot but it is aspirational. If you vote for Biden, you might just get democracy back, but only after the election. Even more galling was Biden’s claim to be the defender of free speech. As I have previously written, Biden has been the most anti-free speech president since John Adams. His administration has been unrelenting in pushing for censorship and blacklisting of those with opposing views. The Biden censorship efforts have been described by one federal court as unprecedented in our history and a virtual “Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’” The Biden Administration has called for the censorship of even true statements that it deems misleading. For Biden to run on free speech is about as convincing as Bill Clinton running on abstinence. Biden hopes that voters will buy the “don’t vote for me, vote for democracy” line. However, it does not appear to be working thus far. Indeed, the Valley Forge speech was another example of “the sound of one hand clapping” with the same 40 percent or so that is clinging to Biden in the polls. This time, however, he dropped the hellish red back drop from Philadelphia in 2022, when he denounced Trump supporters as enemies of the people. Instead, he did everything he could to channel the spirit of George Washington, short of appearing in a Continental uniform. Of course, Washington was a unifying figure in his time. He did not declare all Tories to be traitors. Many Tories and former loyalists would ultimately join his cause. Biden portrayed the 74 million voters for Trump as virtual redcoats seeking the return of the monarchy. The key to Washington’s success is that he was at Valley Forge. He lived through the deprivations imposed upon his men and defended democracy by refusing invitations to become a monarch. If Biden wants to assume the mantle of a Washington, he could start by supporting democracy, practicing it in both the primary and in general election by calling for voters to be given their choice of candidates. Given his record, Biden’s effort to disguise himself as George Washington left him looking foolish in a uniform two sizes too big for his stature. Biden has a consistent record of only supporting principles and positions that bring political benefits. While James Freeman Clarke once said that statesmen think of the next generation, Biden seems rarely to have thought beyond the next election. Moreover, Biden’s effort to champion the Constitution was contradicted by a long line of decisions finding that he has violated the Constitution with impunity. This includes rulings that his administration has exceeded his authority and engaged in racial discrimination in federal programs. Indeed, Biden has often displayed a cavalier attitude toward such violations. For example, the Biden administration was found to have violated the Constitution in its imposition of a nationwide eviction moratorium through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Biden admitted that his White House counsel and most legal experts told him the move was unconstitutional. But he ignored their advice and went with that of Harvard University Professor Laurence Tribe, the one person who would tell him what he wanted to hear. It was, of course, then quickly found to be unconstitutional. Biden showed the same disregard over the unconstitutionality of his effort to unilaterally forgive roughly half a trillion dollars in student debt. Biden rarely allows principle to stand before politics. That is why Biden is no Washington. It is not even clear that Biden makes a convincing Biden. His checkered history of violating the Constitution has left little real notion of what he values beyond the politically expedient. The tragedy of Biden is not that he has not reached the heights of Washington. Few ever have. The tragedy is that we may never know if Biden could rise to meet his own Valley Forge challenge. Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School. Tags George Washington Joe Biden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Facebook Share Twitter Tweet ... More Share ✕ Twitter Twitter Facebook Facebook LinkedIn LinkedIn Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Email by Taboolaby Taboola Sponsored LinksSponsored Links Promoted LinksPromoted Links You May Like Online Shopping Tools Amazon Hates When Prime Members Do This, But They Can't Stop You(Try it tonight)This can save tons of money on Amazon, but most Prime members are ignoring it.Online Shopping Tools Undo investing.com This Is The Car Kelce Drives At 34investing.com Undo Search These Canadians Born 1944-1984 With No Life Insurance Could Be Eligible For This BenefitSearch These Undo US F Jack Nicholson Lives A Modest Life In QuebecUS F Undo SearchTopics Empty Alaska Cruise Cabins For Sale Now (See Prices)SearchTopics Undo Cleverst Always Put a Plastic Bottle on Your Tires when Parked, Here's WhyCleverst Undo MORE CAMPAIGN NEWS SEE ALL Campaign Democrats have a Kamala problem — and it’s not going away any time soon by Liz Peek, opinion contributor 16 hours ago Campaign / 16 hours ago Campaign CBS faces uproar after seizing investigative journalist’s files by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor 20 hours ago Campaign / 20 hours ago Campaign Are Democrats ignoring the next Obama to save Biden’s struggling campaign? by Christopher Brooks, opinion contributor 21 hours ago Campaign / 21 hours ago Campaign How the Democratic Party and corporate media can push Biden out of the race by Steve Krakauer, opinion contributor 2 days ago Campaign / 2 days ago See All VIDEO/HILL.TV SEE ALL HILL.TV SEE ALL VIDEO Rising Rising: February 22, 2024 by TheHill.com 02/22/24 1:18 PM ET Rising / 16 hours ago Rising Rising: February 21, 2024 by TheHill.com 02/21/24 12:08 PM ET Rising / 2 days ago Rising Rising: February 20, 2024 by TheHill.com 02/20/24 11:54 AM ET Rising / 3 days ago See all Hill.TV See all Video TOP STORIES SEE ALL Court Battles Trump Georgia prosecutor objects to questioning of ex-attorney in Fani Willis probe by Ella Lee 13 hours ago Court Battles / 13 hours ago See All MOST POPULAR 1. CBS faces uproar after seizing investigative journalist’s files 2. Fox News co-host ‘surprised’ by GOP’s ‘threshold for humiliation’ in ... 3. Trump Georgia prosecutor objects to questioning of ex-attorney in Fani Willis ... 4. Trump lawyer Alina Habba brushes off NY AG threat to seize assets: ‘It will ... 5. Indicted FBI informant central to GOP Biden probe rearrested 6. United Nations criticizes ‘forever chemical’ contamination in North Carolina 7. Pennsylvania Supreme Court says GOP subpoena for voter information over 2020 ... 8. Russia has broken the stalemate in Ukraine: Former US Defense secretary 9. Trump’s removal from ballot splits public: Survey 10. Freedom Caucus pushes Speaker Johnson for full-year CR in absence of policy ... 11. ‘Basketball Wives’ star in custody of US Marshals after ... 12. Are Democrats ignoring the next Obama to save Biden’s struggling campaign? 13. Gallego leads Lake, Sinema in Arizona Senate race: Poll 14. 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