Wisconsin Democrats are joining President Joe Biden in new criticism of former President Donald Trump. The focus is on the Republican's actions connected to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Friday afternoon in Valley Forge, PA, Biden is expected to talk about the Continental Army's perseverance there in the winter of 1777-'78 and the Revolutionary War that eventually led to the formation of the United States. Biden is also expected to talk about Donald Trump's connection to the Capitol riots of January 6 three years ago and what Democrats say was a serious threat to the nearly 250-year-old nation.
In Milwaukee, Democrats brought in a former military officer, Retired Rear Admiral Mike Smith, who is the founder and President of the 700-hundred-member National Security Leaders for America. Smith's basic message is that Trump illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And Smith said for this year's presidential race: "Trump must be stopped."
Smith told a news conference that people must raise their voices against the former president—including people in Wisconsin.
"Frankly, that's why, as a former sailor, who grew up in Hawaii, I am in Wisconsin in January," Smith said to laughter.
He continued, in a serious tone: "All right? I'm sorry, but I'm here because your votes matter, you know? I can go to San Diego and talk to Californians all I want. It's irrelevant. It's a blue state. You guys are one of the most pivotal, if not the most pivotal, state. How you vote is how the national will go."
Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is president of the voting rights group Power to the Polls. Barnes told the news event that for the last three years, Trump has continued to attack the nation's fundamental values.
"Specifically here in the state of Wisconsin, whether it be the unraveling of the fake electors scheme, or the former president again and again perpetuating conspiracy theories and false claims about our fair and secure elections in Wisconsin," Barnes said.
Barnes said democracy is on the ballot this year.
The Biden/Harris campaign is now airing a new TV ad in several battleground states, including Wisconsin, in which the President said democracy is threatened.
"There's something dangerous happening in America, There's an extremist movement that does not share our basic beliefs in democracy," Biden said in the ad.
Carroll University Political Science Professor Lilly Goren said recent polling has shown Democrats largely agreeing that Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 riot, and that it was a violent threat to democracy.
However, Goren also said the polls show Republicans showing more loyalty to the former president.
"That people who were disposed toward the narratives around the January 6th rioters as kind of being freedom fighters, that they are in fact, sort of accepting and buying into more of these approaches—the advocacy for pardons for those who have been convicted. And that this was an attempt to—quote—'save democracy from a fraudulent election,'" Goren said..
Goren said Trump is leaning into those GOP poll numbers with his campaign messages. But Milwaukee voter Michael Vater isn't buying the idea that Trump was trying to save democracy. He points to some legal cases against the Republican.
"This is a matter of justice and an indictment for serious crimes that must go forward. Mr. Trump and his allies must be treated like every other citizen," Vater said.
Trump faces four federal crimes stemming from his alleged attempts to derail the transfer of power. Plus he's charged in three other criminal cases.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin declined comment for this story, and the Republican National Committee did not respond to our request for comment.
On the morning of Jan. 5, the Trump campaign issued a press release calling Biden, "a threat to democracy," and accusing the President of abusing his power to target critics.
