Real talk
Last week President Biden gave a speech that went largely unmarked in the press and it’s really too bad. It may be the best speech he’s ever given and if people saw it it might set their minds at ease a little bit about his prospects in the next election and the following four years. He’s never been much of a speaker but the speeches he’s been making on the threat to democracy are excellent. This is the fourth one he’s given and it’s a sincere effort on his part to which we should all pay attention. After all, while we are all painfully aware of the right wing’s anti-democratic turn, he is the president and it stands to reason he sees this from a different perspective. That he is so determined to sound the alarm should get much more attention than it does.
On the heels of a bizarre impeachment inquiry hearing last week in which Republicans House members threw out outrageous smears against him without a shred of evidence and a GOP primary debate that had the candidates yelling at each other like drunk sports hooligans, Biden traveled to Arizona to open the John McCain Institute and Library. He spoke at length about his long friendship with the former senator reminding people of a time when the divisions between the two parties were not as uniformly bitter and hostile as they are now.
But he didn’t linger too long on that. He used the legacy of McCain the Never-Trump patriot to pivot to the Republican MAGA movement’s assault on democracy saying that for the late senator “it was country first” subtly pointing the finger at Republicans putting Trump before the constitution. He said:
Let me begin with the core principles. Democracy means rule of the people, not rule of monarchs, not rule of the monied, not rule of the mighty. Regardless of party, that means respecting free and fair elections; accepting the outcome, win or lose. It means you can’t love your country only when you win.
Democracy means rejecting and repudiating political violence. Regardless of party, such violence is never, never, never acceptable in America. It’s undemocratic, and it must never be normalized to advance political power.
He talked about what it’s like to meet with world leaders who ask him, “is it going to be ok?” and wonder whether Americans understand just how unstable this big powerful country appears to the rest of the world. “There is something dangerous happening in America,” he said. “There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. The MAGA Movement.”
He said, “my friends, they’re not hiding their attacks. They’re openly promoting them — attacking the free press as the enemy of the people, attacking the rule of law as an impediment, fomenting voter suppression and election subversion.” And then he made it absolutely clear what we’re facing:
They’re pushing a notion the defeated former President expressed when he was in office and believes applies only to him. And this is a dangerous notion: This president is above the law, with no limits on power.Trump says the Constitution gave him, quote, “the right to do whatever he wants as President,” end of quote. I’ve never even heard a president say that in jest. Not guided by the Constitution or by common service and decency toward our fellow Americans but by vengeance and vindictiveness.
Do most Americans know about that? I don’t think they do. I have been astonished at the media shrugging when Trump literally proclaimed on more than one occasion, “I have an Article II that says I can do whatever I want” as if a president saying such a thing isn’t automatically disqualifying.
He went on to exhort Americans to take this threat seriously and recognize that the whole thing falls apart if these people are allowed to seize power. It was very simple and straightforward without a lot of fancy rhetoric, just a strong, clear denunciation of something very dangerous that’s happening in our society and which it seems has somehow been accepted by too many as business as usual.
After he gave that speech Biden sat down with John Harwood of Pro-Publica for an interview largely on the same topic. If you have the time, I urge you to watch it and then ask yourself if it’s really the case that this man is somewho incapacitated.
If you have even more time, watch Donald Trump’s interview on Meet the Press to see the comparison.
At the moment there is a lot of angst about Biden’s reelection chances. It seems almost incomprehensible that it could be so close. But it’s important to remember that these are not normal political circumstances and that the GOP has pretty much devolved into a cult rather than a political party. Biden doesn’t say as much but the concept comes through loud and clear in his comments. So, while many of the usual suspects are demanding that he find a way to talk about “kitchen table issues,” he seems to recognize that something deeper than economic malaise is going on which explains why the improving economy and incredible job market doesn’t make people feel any better.
He sees that a majority of this country is simply frightened that the country has gone off the rails in some fundamental way and they don’t know exactly how to deal with it — they don’t even know how to define it. It’s about our sense that for all of Trump’s clownishness, something seriously disconcerting is happening. We see it in Trump’s flouting of every norm, rule and law with his followers cheering him on. We see it in their defense of January 6th. We see it in the insane gun fetish, the conspiracy theories, the authoritarian impulse growing in the right wing. We see it in book banning and cruelty toward transgender kids and COVID denialism. We see it in the fact that the moment they get the power to do it they start taking away constitutional rights.
Biden’s insistence on talking about this over the objections of many Democratic strategists and pundits shows confidence in his own judgement which proved to be right in 2022 when he ignored their pleas to change his closing argument from political extremism to the economy. He was right then and he’s right now. Americans are palpably nervous and agitated and it’s not about the price of eggs or gasoline. It’s about freedom. And they are justified in being so.
Obviously, nobody knows what the future holds and he is 80 years old. But as I watched all the celebrations over the weekend for former president Jimmy Carter’s 99th birthday, recognizing that he is reportedly as with it as ever although very physically feeble, it made me realize that it would be helpful if people paid a little less attention to the fact that he’s old and a little more attention to what he’s done and what he’s saying. It’s quite impressive.
I say this even though I was one of those progressives who would have chosen several of the 2020 Democratic candidates over him, but came around like the rest of us did because he earned the nomination and Donald Trump had to be defeated. But since then
Jen Psaki Morning Joe
Why is it important. It is the framework for something that is underlying the palpable nervousness that so many in the country are worried about. It’s not all about money. It’s about freedoms… this is not normal.
Insurrections, stealing supreme court seats, impeaching Biden, gerrymandering (wisconsin) political violence and threats, Trump, abortion, gun proliferation, Milley
https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/1707172498465345714?s=20
https://x.com/BrennanCenter/status/1707477110036500861?s=20