Today is Thursday, January 6, the one-year anniversary of that traumatic day last year when a Trump-induced mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, causing death and destruction. To mark the sad occasion, the duly elected President Joe Biden delivered a blunt, fiery speech denouncing his predecessor about 16 times in his address for his unmitigated role in the January 6 insurrection. These remarks were covered in an online CNN article by Jeff Zeleney, Kaitlin Collins, and Kevin Liptak entitled “Inside Biden’s fiery speech and his decision to confront Trump’s danger head on.”

Raising his voice in indignation at one point, Biden thundered, “A former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.” He spoke ever more bluntly when he said, “He’s done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.” Anyone listening to him could immediately hear the anger in his voice.

One can tell that the President is deeply concerned with the emergence of a majority of Republicans and a sizable share of independents that have bought into Dumpf’s mistruths about the election and it showed today in his speech. In some surveys, as many as 7 out of 10 repugnicans contend that fraud helped Biden to victory – a claim that’s been repeatedly debunked.

Even though Biden did not name the Orange One by name, his castigation of the former president still hit home – hard. Especially when he called Dumpf the “defeated former President” as one who had “failed to make his case to voters” and “lost” an election by millions of votes. Language that indeed would have succeeded in agitating Dumpf wherever he was sitting listening to his successor tell the nation that he was a loser.

Biden delivered his address in the National Statuary Hall which is devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans and is considered the heart of the U.S. Capitol. The President pummeled the “defeated president” time and time again that would have surely infuriated him at his compound in Mar-a-Largo. His voice rising, Biden said, “He’s not just the former president. He’s a defeated former president; defeated by a margin of over 7 million of your votes.”

The pumped-up president laid out the seriousness of the threat to democracy and insisted that he would not shrink from his duty to defend it. He said, “I did not seek this fight, but I will not shrink from it.”

Biden promised, “I will stand in this breach.” He added, “I will defend this nation, I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.” Pretty powerful words, wouldn’t you say?

It seems that in this most urgent and powerful speech Biden has taken on the mantle of the warrior in the effort to lead the country out of the existential crisis it has found itself in at the moment. Now the country needs to know how exactly he plans to win that battle for the soul of America, as the American experiment continues to face annihilation from an ongoing menace from within.

Another tack Biden addressed was voting rights, as he blasted the former demagogue and his minions for attempting to “suppress your vote and subvert our elections.” He added, “It’s wrong. It’s undemocratic. And frankly, it’s un-American.”

To mark the day, Congressional Democrats took part in a series of events following Biden’s speech to commemorate the January 6th anniversary. These included moments of silence on the House and Senate floors and speeches from lawmakers describing their personal experiences of the traumatic events of the day.

After the speech, when asked by a journalist if he believed going after the former Liar-in-Chief would “divide more than it heals,” Biden responded so aptly, “The way you have to heal, you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can’t pretend. This is serious stuff. You’ve got to face it. That’s what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it, and move on.”

One line from Biden’s speech will resonate for a long time, which is: “You can’t love your country only when you win.” So it’s very easy to love your country when you are elected. It’s a lot harder to love your country when you think they chose the wrong person or are headed down the wrong path. True patriotism isn’t insisting you won, even though there’s no evidence – none – to back up those claims, as Dumpf has insisted since he lost the election fair and square. A true patriot accepts the results of an equitable election and accepts the peaceful transition of power every four years.

How can we heal as a nation if Dumpf and his despicable supporters continue to pretend that January 6 was a normal day with tourists, as some disgusting repugnican has remarked, and that a potential insurrection did not occur on that day? How will “normal” repugnicans – if there is such a thing, even – ever accept the truth of Joe Biden’s words expressed today? How will these people ever abandon their Golden Idol and adopt a more reasoned mind-set after being poisoned by the relentless lies of Dumpf?

No one can now say that Joe Biden did not flinch from condemning the one person who needed to be condemned by him. This was necessary. I don’t care what everyone else thinks. The truth hurts, baby!

So it’s getting late here. The city could face its first snowfall tonight and tomorrow morning. I’ve heard that we could have anywhere from two to five inches of the white stuff. Let’s hope not, but I will confront the first blast of winter with my face held high and a snow shovel held aloft.

Have a good Friday. Stay warm.

Stay safe and be well.