President Joe Biden took a swipe at Nikki Haley and a direct shot at Donald Trump on Monday, calling him a “loser” during his speech at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.
In the speech, Biden said the defeated Confederates “embraced what’s known as the lost cause, a self-serving lie that the Civil War was not about slavery, but about states’ rights. They’ve called that the noble cause. That was a lie, a lie that had terrible consequences. It brought on Jim Crow.”
“So let me be clear, for those who don’t seem to know, slavery was the cause of the Civil War. There was no negotiation about that,” Biden added.
His comment came after Haley failed to mention slavery when asked about the causes of the Civil War during a townhall in New Hampshire last month.
In Monday’s speech Biden also drew comparisons between 2020 and the Civil War.
“Now, we’re living in an era of a second lost cause. Once again there are some in this country trying to turn loss into a lie. A lie which, if allowed to live, will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time the lie is about the 2020 election,” Biden said.
“Time and again they lost in every court of law that challenged the results, 60 losses in courts of America,” Biden added according to a clip shared by Mediaite. “In their world, these Americans, including you, don’t count. But that’s not the real world. That’s not democracy. That’s not America! In America, we all count! In America we witness to serve all those who, in fact, participate. And losers are taught to concede when they lose. And he’s a loser!”
Biden’s comments drew cheers and applause from the audience.
Mother Emanuel AME, the oldest black church in the southern United States, was the site of a racial massacre in 2015 when a white supremacist killed nine people and injured another during Bible study. All the victims were Black.
Biden has stepped up his attacks on Trump in recent days, labeling the former president as a threat to democracy.
In a speech on Friday, the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Biden warned voters against re-electing Trump, the man whose refusal to accept that he lost the 2020 election led his supporters to storm the Capitol building.
“Today we’re here to answer the most important of questions, is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” Biden said. “Today, I make this sacred pledge to you: the defense, protection and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.
“America, as we began this election year, we must be clear: democracy is on the ballot,” he added.
