attacking the capitol. all of these things matter. all of these things have been extreme views. house republican leader kevin mccarthy just spoke a few minutes ago in the president s hometown. no coincidence there. in scranton. arguing the president is trying to distract americans. he called on the president to apologize tonight for saying, as you know, a few days ago that the maga movement is like semi-fascism. he said that at that private donor event. listen to what mccarthy is asking for. when the president speaks tonight at independence hall, the first lines out of his mouth should be to apologize for slandering tens of millions of americans as fascists. will the president apologize?
something deeply felt by joe biden. i remember a conversation with him when he was in the white house the last time as vice president about whether he was going to run for president. in the end it comes down to what is the cause. in a sense what is your vocation. what is the thing that history summons you to do? biden decided in the beginning stages of the 2020 campaign it was about a real wrestle for whether this country was committed to democracy and it has morphed over that time. it was about an armed attack on the capitol over the 2020 election. today it s about people potentially coming into office who would have control over the election apparatus in 2024. and they don t in fact respect the legitimacy of a free and fair election as far as 2020 goes. the battle for the soul of the nation is part of the story that he tells about why he ran this time around in the first place. kaitlin, again, what was the discussion or what has the discussion been about this speech? they have be
you know, i will say this. i will let the actions of kevin mccarthy for over the past two years just speak for itself. there was a moment on january 6 or around january 6 where kevin mccarthy spoke very forcefully about what happened on that day, about what that attack meant for our nation. you may have missed it if you blinked an eye. sadly, right after that, soon after that, he aligned with the most extreme part of his party. that is the sad thing to say. that s not a great thing to say. that s a sad thing to say as we talk about that mob, that insurrection that i just spoke about, that landed on our capitol to attack our democracy, to attack law enforcement officers. again, he spoke to it. then you blink an eye again i understand.
the president has wanted to make this speech, we understand, for some time. he s talked about the battle for the soul of the nation since he launched his campaign right there in 2019. so why is he choosing to make this speech now? reporter: well, john, quite simply because the midterm elections are nine weeks away, 68 days from today. so this is why there is some urgency in his message. he s been watching primary elections throughout the last several months, watching election deniers be elected for secretary of state positions, for gubernatorial candidates, and he is worried about this threat to democracy. but first and foremost, john, it is political. they are trying to sort of turn the criticism and focus away from the democratic party, concerns about the economy, inflation, gas prices, to focus on the former president and what he has done in his view to this republican party. john, it is all about setting up the stark contrast for the midterm elections. yes, we are here in front o
realized that this actually was a voting machine when they posted it on its website. to the untrained eye, this kind of just looks like a big computer screen. of course lots of security concerns here. but, poppy, you ll never know just what you ll find at a good will or on ebay. once again your reporting has my jaw on the floor. thank you very much for that. thanks to everyone for joining us. president biden about to speak in ten minutes live in philadelphia. ac 360 starts now. speaking from the birth place of american democracy, president biden tonight will issue a warning about the state of that democracy as he sees it and what american can say do about it. john berman here in for anderson. you re looking at live pictures of independence hall in philadelphia where the president is expected to begin his remarks just after the top of the hour. we have some early passages from this speech and will talk about them shortly. first, though, take a look. this is new polling from