Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Eli When President JOE BIDEN delivered a major speech on democracy in Philadelphia two months ago, he and senior adviser MIKE DONILON discussed the possibility that it might not be the last time he took on the subject before the midterms, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Unnerved in recent weeks by polling showing election-denying Republicans gaining ground and the rising specter of political violence, Biden is returning to the topic Wednesday evening, just six days from the election. Although aides insist the broader topic has long been on the president’s mind, last week’s brutal hammer attack on PAUL PELOSI clearly reaffirmed and added urgency to his conviction that another “democracy in peril” speech was needed. Work on the speech and consideration of a location were already underway prior to the Pelosi attack, the person familiar said. But the incident offered Biden a ripped-from-the-headlines illustration of his broader point: that there are matters beyond pocketbook issues at stake next Tuesday. At an Axios live event Wednesday morning, senior adviser ANITA DUNN described Union Station as “an appropriate place” for the speech because of its proximity to the Capitol, the site of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — or what Dunn called “violence geared toward subverting democratic processes.” But despite insistence by officials that the event was long under consideration, numerous signs suggested it was quickly planned. By mid-afternoon, Democratic National Committee staffers, working alongside staff for Design Cuisine — which helps set up private events at Union Station — were hustling inside, trying to get the Columbus Club venue ready for the 7 p.m. speech. Design Cuisine staff wouldn’t confirm the event was for Biden, even as a conspicuous mix of security guards, police officers and Secret Service agents stood out from the usual early rush hour crowds. The Democratic Party scrambled throughout the day to build a last-minute crowd. The DNC sent an invite at 10:17am just after the announcement. The D.C. Democratic Party emailed invitations to guests as late as 2:11 p.m. And a Democratic operative at one of the party’s outside organizations said they’d gotten no advanced warning about it, and that individuals working at a number of groups were sharing reporter tweets to give partners a heads up. By afternoon, a link being passed around encouraging people to come and watch in person said the event was “at capacity.” White House speechwriter VINAY REDDY and others worked on revisions of Biden’s speech throughout the afternoon, but aides said the president’s message would be a familiar one. They suggested that Biden planned to build on his prior speeches on democracy: both the Philadelphia address in September and his remarks from the Capitol on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The president, they said, wants to be even more pointed in connecting the Paul Pelosi attack and other recent violence to 2020 election deniers supported by former President DONALD TRUMP, and to remind voters that scores of Republicans on the ballot next week continue to perpetuate “the Big Lie” with little regard for the consequences. “That is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And, it is un-American,” Biden will say, according to speech excerpts the DNC sent out tonight. “I ask you to think long and hard about the moment we are in.” Biden also brought in historian JON MEACHAM to help with tonight’s speech, according to two people familiar with the matter. Meacham, who recently published a book on “Lincoln” that Biden was spotted carrying on Tuesday, has become a Biden go-to for high profile speeches, particularly about threats to democracy. As West Wing Playbook previously reported , he helped advise the president on his speech on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot. MESSAGE US — Are you an ADVANCE STAFFER who helped prep Union Station before tonight’s speech? We want to hear from you! Seriously! And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com .
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