My Chicago White Sox is currently in the final stretch of a disappointing season. They are still in playoff contention, so I am more interested in what happens on the field than in politics.
Writing about politics is my job, so I have had to deal with the banality and partisan nuttery that masquerades as warnings of doom. Is it possible to see that all the wailing and handwringing is just noise and fury? If we don’t all stop talking and take a deep breath, we will continue to talk our way to civil war.
Joe Biden should have done that before he delivered the speech in Philadelphia. Biden and the Democrats have become incredibly hysterical over people they call “MAGA Republicans.” We are told that this is “a clear and present threat.” Biden claims that the MAGA Republicans “threaten our republic’s very foundations.”
These are the threats to democracy! Let me get at ’em! I am 68 years old, but I stand ready and available to defend the republic from those who “threaten our very foundations!”
Please tell us, Mr. President: How do we identify these people? What are their distinctive physical characteristics? How can we distinguish between the “enemy”, (MAGA Republicans), and the Joe Biden Seal Of Approval-eligible Republicans?
NRO:
Joe Biden isn’t sure who these “MAGA Republicans”, are or what makes them so extreme. Charlie and I noticed that Biden could not keep his speech straight during last week’s Philadelphia speech. He was criticizing the refusal to accept electoral results, the use of or threat of violence political, and other common Republican policy proposals like opposing abortion. This has been going on for several months. Biden, at a Pride Month event in June 2016, described state laws that prohibit age-inappropriate sexual and gender education as well as transgender drugs or surgeries on children and adolescents as an “ultra-MAGA agenda attacking our families and freedoms.”
This is a problem because it means that everyone in the party or supporting its agenda (such as the Florida sex education bill which is supported the majority of Florida Democrats) dissipates any force of an attack, strengthening Trump’s position within Republican Party and giving every Republican good reason to believe Trump has declared them enemies. It doesn’t even make sense in its own terms. In contexts that range from radical Islam to white supremacy, woke ideology, critical race theory, and left-wing street violence, I have argued that if you want a radical fringe to be defeated, you need to give them a unique name and identity that separates them from their ideological co-travelers and sometimes-allies. It doesn’t matter if MAGA Republicans are all Republicans.
The New York Times headlines “Biden Attempts to Condemn Trumpism without Writing Off the G.O.P.” It’s a good trick to be able to separate the 75 million Trump voters from the conspiracy nuts who mouth-breathe — the thugs and ruffians who pushed police out of their way and destroyed the Capitol Building.
In 2021, we all knew that Biden and his Democrats would exploit the Capitol riot to their advantage — including attempts to destroy the Republican Party and not just the MAGA Republicans. They would justifiably claim they were protecting the republic.
However, the White House must intervene if the press secretary of the President of the United States fails to draw a distinction between extremists and mainstream Republicans.
“If you look at fascism’s definition, think about the things they are doing to our democracy. They’re taking away our freedoms and taking away our voting rights. That is exactly what it is.” She said, just before the Philadelphia speech, “The MAGA Republicans are the most energetic part of the Republican Party. This is a grave threat to democracy and our freedoms, as well as our rights.
Do you see what I mean when I say they should talk themselves into a civil conflict?
Just for the record, “fascism,” as defined by the dictionary, does not refer to any political party in modern America.
It’s, “A government system that is ruled by a dictator, which forcibly suppresses criticism and opposing views, regulates all commerce and industry, and emphasizes aggressive nationalism and sometimes racism”.
It’s not the Democrats, even though many Democrats secretly love the part about “regimenting every industry”.
Biden may be trying to separate MAGA Republicans and the rest of the right, but he is too stupid, lazy, or addled to do so. NRO’s Dan McLaughlin wrote, “Maybe Biden can’t remember what he was talking about on any given day, but you would think that someone around him is responsible for putting out a disciplined message which doesn’t reverse its course on a daily basis.”
The media, such as the New York Times, try to be helpful in describing those who are threatening democracy. It is impossible. Biden and the Democrats want to paint the entire Republican Party and its members as democratic destroyers. Unless there is some resistance in the polls, or from the few rational Democrats, it will continue this way until at least the midterms.
