Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden said “democracy itself” is in “peril” in the U.S. and around the world.

“What we do now” and “how we honor the memory of the fallen,” Biden said, will determine whether democracy can endure.

Repeating one of his go-to campaign lines, Biden claimed the battle for the “soul of America” is “animated by the perennial battle between our worst instincts—which we’ve seen of late—and our better angels.”