Republicans want “an economy that is very good for people at the top, but not always so good for ordinary people,” Obama began. telling the crowd of about 1,000 at a high school gymnasium in Phoenix on Wednesday.
“Just like you, Obama!” interrupted a young male heckler.
“Are you going to scream?” Obama replied, as the crowd erupted into loud cheers in an attempt to drown out the heckler.
“Hold on, hang on, everyone,” Obama said. “Hey, young man, listen up. You know you have to be polite and polite when people talk, then other people talk, and then you get a chance to talk.
“Set up your own rally!” the former president joked. “A lot of people have worked hard for this. Come on man.”
As the event began to come back under control, Obama urged the crowd to “settle in,” saying the incident was akin to the noise that drowned out moderate voices in many political debates.
“This is part of what is happening in our politics today. We are distracted,” Obama said.
“You have one person screaming and suddenly everyone is screaming. You get one tweet that is stupid and suddenly everyone is obsessed with the tweet. We can’t fall for that. We have to stay focused,” he said.
He argued that if Republican candidates are successful in the pivotal swing state, “democracy as we know it may not survive in Arizona.”
As he continued his speech, Obama spoke of the “peaceful transfer of power” he underwent with Donald Trump when the Democrats lost in 2016, as opposed to Trump’s refusal to award Joe Biden the 2020 election. “That’s what America should be about. Have we forgotten that?” said Obama.
He noted that he had spoken to his “friend” Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was attacked at the couple’s San Francisco home last week. The perpetrator, identified as a man of extreme political views, shouted, “Where’s Nancy?” on arrival at the house. Discussing the attack, Obama criticized “This growing habit of demonizing political opponents, of just yelling,” he told the crowd.
Obama seemed to echo a speech President Biden gave earlier that day, who, also speaking of Pelosi, said there is “no place for voter intimidation or political violence in America, whether aimed at Democrats or republicans… no place, period.”
“You can’t just love your country when you win,” Biden said in his own speech at Washington’s Union Station, where he warned that candidates who refuse to accept next Tuesday’s results will set the nation on a “path to chaos.” could put.
Millions of voters across the country have already cast their votes or plan to go to the polls on Election Day. Officials in Maricopa County, home to metro Phoenix and most voters in Arizona, say they are willing to allow 250,000 to 350,000 people to vote in person on Tuesday. They estimate a total of between 1.4 million and 1.9 million voters.
The state’s early voting system has been attacked by some Republican activists who in recent years have raised suspicions about mail votes and mailboxes used to return early ballots, sparking skepticism at campaign events and online about the county’s preparedness. for large numbers of personal voters.
Some Arizona voters have complained of harassment from self-proclaimed drop-box monitors — some of them armed — leading a federal judge to set strict new limits.
At a news conference Wednesday, election officials warned there could be queues at polling stations on election day, but said this should not be a sign that the election is not going well, anticipating that “possible story” amid mounting tensions.
Separately on Wednesday, a federal judge ordered that a group that monitors Arizona ballot boxes for signs of fraud must stay at least 75 feet from ballot boxes and publicly correct false statements made by its members about Arizona’s election laws. The ruling also prevents drop-box viewers from taking photos or videos of voters and using the material to spread baseless allegations of voter fraud.
Republican contenders in Arizona have fervently embraced Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Lake, the GOP’s nominee for governor, has called anyone who believes Biden won by 81 million votes a “conspiracy theorist,” while Masters, the Republican Senate nominee, unequivocally announced in an ad, “I think Trump is in 2020 has won’.
According to a recent analysis by the Washington Post, a majority of Republican nominees voting for the House, Senate and key offices statewide — 291 in all — have denied or questioned the outcome of the latest presidential election.
