Dark and Divisive

I don't know if there has ever been a darker and more divisive speech given by an occupant of The White House than Joe Biden's tv address at Independence Hall in Philadelphia last week.

For example, I don't know which of Biden's advisors thought that the stagecraft for the speech was a good idea.

It took a lot of work to make Independence Hall look like a sinister backdrop for a movie about an aging tyrant and a dystopian society.

If you doubt that compare the image above to a photo I took of Independence Hall when I was in Philadelphia several years ago.

This is Joe Biden in November, 2020.

There is nothing in the words in the speech that suggest uniting anything.

Or working with all his heart to win the confidence of the whole people.

Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.

... the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.

And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution.  They do not believe in the rule of law.  They do not recognize the will of the people. 

They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. 

MAGA Republicans have made their choice.  They embrace anger.  They thrive on chaos.  They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies.

The MAGA Republicans believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail.  

There are far more Americans — far more Americans from every — from every background and belief who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it.  

By comparison, consider the words of Abraham Lincoln in his first Inaugural Address in 1861.

Lincoln knew that people in the South did not accept his election.

By the time of his inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had already announced their intent to secede from the Union because they believed that their way of life was under assault with Lincoln's election. 

Lincoln knew that more of the Southern states were close to seceding including Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Did he attack the Confederates and call them extremists, enemies or semi-fascists? 

No.

He made it clear that he was not their enemy and had no intent on enforcing anything on them.

In fact, Lincoln said this in that speech.

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that--

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

Lincoln said his only duty was to uphold the Constitution and "to preserve, protect and defend it" and to see to it that the United States of America endured as a nation.

He does not refer to those who are speaking of real insurrection and secession against the United States as extremists or enemies.

Lincoln calls those who were threatening real insurrection and secession his fellow countrymen and friends. 

He concluded his speech with these words.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. 

Could there be a bigger contrast? 

Lincoln was facing a situation in which the "very foundations of our republic" were not merely under threat. Those foundations had already been forcefully attacked through secession by seven states.

However, there was no talk of enemies or anger or chaos like Biden did. Lincoln reminded everyone of our "bonds of affection" and "the better angels of our nature."

Biden also spent a good portion of his speech talking about democracy.

For example, he said this.

Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated.  And that’s where MAGA Republicans are today.

Biden apparently forgot about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats being in the same place for the entire four years of the Trump presidency.

Biden also said this.

American democracy only works only if we choose to respect the rule of law and the institutions that were set up in this chamber behind me, only if we respect our legitimate political differences.

Respect the rule of law?

Is Biden respecting the rule of law when it comes to immigration?

Is Biden respecting the rule of law and our institutions when he unilaterally is cancelling student loan debt by executive order without an act of Congress?

How much respect has Biden shown to legitimate political differences on some of these issues?

Abortion? 

The Second Amendment?

Covid policy?

We now know that the Biden administration actively worked with social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to censor opposing opinions on Covid policy.

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/over-50-biden-administration-employees-12-us-agencies-involved-in-social-media-censorship-push-documents_4704349.html

We know that the FBI labeled parents of schoolchildren who challenged school board members on school closures and the teaching of critical race theory as domestic terrorists.

How does any of this show respect?

How does any of this make sense when viewed in the context of reality as this political cartoon puts into perspective?

At its essence, the Biden speech was a political speech meant to rally the Democrat base and attempt to sway Independent voters to not believe the reality of everything they see around them that has gone to hell over the last two years---inflation, gas prices, utility costs, Covid policy failures, Afghanistan failure, the Russia-Ukraine war and all the rest.

Joe Biden does understand one basic truth about the American system.

The American people have the power to decide how they want to be governed.

Too often the people themselves do not understand how powerful that right is.

Biden and the Democrats have to be terrified of what they see in the 2022 mid-term polls.

For example, a poll in Pennsylvania last week showed that Trump would beat Biden by 7 points in an election matchup in that state right now.

Source: https://creativedestructionmedia.com/news/politics/2022/09/02/cd-media-big-data-poll-trump-leads-biden-by-7-points-in-pennsylvania/

Trump is running ahead of both the Republican candidate for Governor and the U.S. Senate who are both losing to the Democrats in that same poll.

The same is true in Georgia. Trump is outpolling both Herschel Walker in the Senate race and Brian Kemp in the Governor's race.

Recall that Trump lost both Pennsylvania and Georgia in the 2020 election.

Are Trump MAGA Republicans really the fringe extremists that Biden is seeking to portray them as?

What is really scaring the Democrats and Biden right now is the democracy he wants to talk about.

They are terrified that there actually might be a majority in this country who really want to Make America Great Again.

Or at least as great as America was four years ago.

Remember we were told every day back then how bad things were with Trump?

We were told how dark and divisive things were and we were living in an authoritarian state of affairs.

Now that some time has passed, is that a more accurate description of 2018 or 2022?

How voters answer that question will undoubtedly determine the mid-term election results and what comes next in the United States of America.