President Joe Biden blatantly lied about the nature of opposition to Democratic voting reform on Monday, claiming that voter integrity legislation is meant to prevent the votes of black Americans “from even counting.”
What did Biden say?
During an event at the White House on the final day of Black History Month, Biden claimed the right to vote is under “attack,” presumably by Republicans.
“We’re protecting our country’s threshold liberty, the sacred right to vote, which I’ve never seen as under such attack,” Biden said. “You know, it’s always made it harder for blacks to vote, but this is trying to be able to figure out how to keep the black vote, when it occurs, from even counting.”
After making the unsubstantiated claim, Biden reiterated calls for Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, both of which have failed to pass in the Senate.
Biden’s accusation is perhaps unsurprising because Democrats have engaged in heavy-handed rhetoric as Republican-controlled state legislatures pass bills to bolster election security and prevent voter fraud.
Biden himself has described Republican efforts as a “21st-century Jim Crow assault” on voting rights, and even compared lawmakers who opposed eliminating the filibuster to pass Democrats’ controversial voter reform bills to infamous segregationists and racists.
“So I ask every elected official in America, how do you want to be remembered?” Biden said in January. “Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”
In reality, opposition to eliminating the filibuster is about preserving the balance of power in the Senate, while opposition to Democrats’ voting reform bills is about following the Constitution, which enumerates the power of election regulation to states.
What is the irony?
While Biden postures himself on the morally correct side of voting issues, Biden infamously disenfranchised the meaning of black voters during the 2020 presidential campaign.
When radio host Charlamagne tha God told Biden in a May 2020 interview that he should come to New York because he had more questions for him, Biden responded, “You’ve got more questions? Well, I’ll tell you what: If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”