President Joe Biden issued a stern warning to voters who may choose to sit the upcoming election out that the blame would sit with them if he lost to former President Donald Trump, saying that civil rights were at stake.

Biden was speaking to radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders on Thursday for WURD’s The Source w⧸Andrea Lawful-Sanders when he warned that Trump could use his second term, should he return to the White House, to wield “complete power” – following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling – in order to “exact revenge” or “organize a coup.”

Speaking about Trump’s record, Biden recalled his perpetuation of the ‘Birther’ conspiracy theory surrounding former President Barack Obama’s legitimacy to serve as president and his 1989 call for the imprisonment of the Central Park Five — teenagers falsely accused of a rape Trump called to be executed. Biden then urged Black voters, in particular, to “show up” and “vote for [their] own safety.”

ANDREA LAWFUL-SANDERS: Yes, sir. My last question for you. What do you say to the people who plan on sitting this election out?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Same thing that was said to me when I was a young kid getting out of school during the Civil Rights movement: If you don’t do something about, you’re to blame. You’re responsible. And we did in my generation, we got up and we got involved. That’s how I got involved in politics.

I never planned on running. I love reading biographies about how I knew I was going to be president. All I wanted to do was make sure that my state, which has the eighth largest Black population per percentage of population, that people had a fair chance – that they could sit at lunch counters. I think of all those things, you know, what would that have happened if we didn’t have people showing up and voting?

Yeah, [Trump] has tried to block… He’s made it harder for people to vote. He did everything from… He still has admitted that he lost the 2020 election, even though he [faced] a zillion court cases all the way to the Supreme Court. He said there’s no basis for what he’s doing. And now he said if he loses in 2024, it’ll be a bloodbath. Can you imagine the president saying that? Bloodbath?

ANDREA LAWFUL-SANDERS: Can I imagine?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No, I really mean it. And the Supreme Court justices, a decision that threatens America, the principle that there are no kings in America, that no one is above the law. He gave Trump complete power to use his office to exact revenge, organize a coup, become the dictator. Because, again, if he’s doing in this capacity, when he’s in office, based on how this gets interpreted, then he has immunity. My God, the stakes are really high. They’re really high. Democracy, freedom, our economy are all on the line.

The other side is working overtime to chip away the right to cast our ballot. We’re working harder and harder to protect it, so show up and vote for your own safety. Show up and vote for your own safety’s sake. And, by the way, you guys, like he talks about Black jobs? He just talks down to people. There’s no respect. It’s a shameful comment. It’s not surprising.

This is the guy, as I said, questioned George Floyd’s humanity, led the Birther movement against President Obama, accused the Central Park Five – they should be in jail. By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first Black woman served with a Black president. I’m proud of the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. There’s just so much that we can do because together we… there’s nothing… Look, this is the United States of America. Nothing is beyond our capacity if we work together.

Listen above on WURD.

The post Biden to Voters Who May Sit Election Out: If I Lose to Trump, ‘You’re to Blame’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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