.webp)
Biden’s stern warning on extremism shows the
rose-colored glasses are off
David Smith
in
Washington
The president’s primetime speech named Trump and ‘Maga
Republicans’ as a threat facing American democracy
Fri 2 Sep
2022 03.57 BST
Joe Biden’s
journey from idealist to realist continues. But it is not quite complete.
After 36
years in the Senate, he stepped into the US presidency in 2021 as an apostle of
bipartisanship, convinced that his authoritarian-minded predecessor Donald
Trump would fade away and the Republican party would rediscover its bearings.
By the
start of this year he had come to understand that Trump’s malign influence
still runs deep. “We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a
lie,” Biden said on 6 January, the first anniversary of the attack on the US
Capitol, stopping short of using Trump’s name.
US
President Joe Biden gives a primetime speech on 'the continued battle for the
soul of the nation' in Philadelphia.
Then, a
month ago, a group of historians reportedly gathered in the White House map
room for two hours to give the president a dire warning about the threats
facing American democracy. They included Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of
America.
Polls show
a country still unravelling. More than two-fifths of Americans believe civil
war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade, a share that increases to
more than half among self-identified “strong Republicans”, according to
research by YouGov and the Economist.
Given that
context, Biden used a primetime “soul of the nation” speech on Thursday night
to deliver the starkest warning of his long career about the danger of Trump –
whom he did name this time, – extremist “Maga” (Make America great again)
Republicans and political violence.
“This is a
nation that rejects violence as a political tool,” he said. “We are still, at
our core, a democracy. Yet history tells us that blind loyalty to a single
leader and the willingness to engage in political violence is fatal in a
democracy.”
It was
pugnacious talk that many progressives, worried that Biden is trapped in a
rose-tinted past, have been urging for a long time. It was also sure to enrage
Trump and his allies although Biden, who recently called the Maga philosophy
“semi-fascism”, did not repeat that f-word.
But the
speech also, perhaps understandably, tried to err on the side of optimism by
drawing a distinction between Maga Republicans and mainstream Republicans.
Biden cast the former as a weird rebel sect that opposes the rule of law, seeks
to overturn elections and revels in violence. Maga has, he implied, imposed
minority rule on a party of otherwise reasonable people.
“Donald
Trump and the Maga Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very
foundations of our republic. Now, I want to be very clear up front: not every
Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are Maga Republicans. Not every
Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to
work with these mainstream Republicans.”
He
continued: “But there’s no question that the Republican party today is
dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans and
that is a threat to this country.”
Perhaps.
The point is at least debatable after the past seven years. Numerous mainstream
Republicans have retired or been purged, most recently congresswoman Liz
Cheney. Polls show a majority of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential
election was stolen. Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, both extremists,
are the two leading contenders for the party nomination in 2024. There is no
moderate alternative with any reasonable chance.
In what may
be a triumph of hope over experience, Biden still wants to believe that Maga is
being enforced from the top down. But there is a case to be made that it comes
from the bottom up, with millions of grassroots Republicans willing to buy into
false conspiracy theories and vote for extremist midterm candidates. As Trump
may discover to his cost, the base has taken on a life of its own.
If Biden,
with elaborate stagecraft at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the
nation’s founding documents were written, was striving to isolate Maga and
bring Democrats and democrats together to reject it, he may have more work to
do. The right was bound to compare his critique to Hillary Clinton’s infamous
2016 “basket of deplorables” comment anyway.
Rupert
Murdoch’s Fox News network did not show the full speech and, when it did,
questioned why Biden spoke against a dramatically lit “blood red” backdrop.
Far-right host Tucker Carlson, the most watched prime time figure on cable
news, sneered and deployed chyrons such as: “This is by far Biden’s most
shameful moment.”
The
network’s 9pm bulletin added, “Biden vilifies millions of Americans”, “Biden
uses primetime address to fuel more division” and “Clueless Biden spews hate in
dark, dismal speech”.
Biden has
evolved a long way from the man who suggested that he could turn back the clock
to a golden age of Democrats and Republicans debating together, dining together
and respectfully agreeing to disagree. But in November’s midterm elections, or
in 2024’s presidential poll, his harshest lesson may yet be to come.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário