At things that go bump in the night
Whaddya know? The anti-democracy, pro-insurrection, authoritarian cult of personality that gleefully brands Democrats America-hating, child-trafficking, Marxist pedophiles can dish it out but can’t take it.
Thursday night, President Joe Biden dished back in a primetime speech outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. I guess I’m in synch with Never Trumper Rick Wilson on this one.
Biden did what Wisconsin Democratic state chair Ben Wikler told an August Netroots Nation panel he’d heard from a former Republican debate champion [timestamp 54:30]:
“What you want to do is draw the circle that includes you and your audience around values, things that you all agree on, and then push the other side out of the circle.”
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden began and then pushed. Hard.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
Biden then tried to separate what normal Republicans remain in the party from MAGA cult members. It remains to be seen if he succeeded. What he did succeed at was making MAGA heads explode:
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 refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.
MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.
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.
They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th — brutally attacking law enforcement — not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots.
Biden violated the rules of the extremists’ game that say Republicans get to use Democrats as punching bags and Democrats must never punch back. Biden did.
If you missed the 30-minute speech last night, here it is. There was much more:
I will not stand by and watch — I will not — the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless, evidence-free claims of fraud.
I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost. (Applause.)
I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country — the freedom to vote and have your vote counted — and — be taken from you and the American people. (Applause.)
Look, as your President, I will defend our democracy with every fiber of my being, and I’m asking every American to join me. (Applause.)
Biden is not a great orator. The speech contained “no rhythm, no metphor, no storytelling,” as historian Rick Perlstein observed. But Biden rose to the occasion and said what needed saying.
Former Republican congressman (and former Republican) David Jolly added, “A historic moment. A sitting US President accepting the burden of admonishing his predecessor’s powerful cultural movement, doing so honestly and resolutely, and framing it as a threat to the country.”
“Historically, the only way to contain movements like MAGA that rely on bullying and thuggery is to stand up to them,” tweeted Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf, “to deliver as Biden did, the unmistakable message that their opponents (that’s us) are stronger in every way and that we will not stop until they are defeated.”
“Putting aside the question of whether Biden’s speech was presidential or campaign … it was a banger of a speech,” tweeted author and columnist Michael Cohen. “The WH has clearly decided that they are leaning into making 2022 a referendum on Trump.”
In the distance, a heckler with a bullhorn tried to disrupt Biden’s flow. He responded.
“Notwithstanding those folks you hear on the other side there. They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy. But history and common sense — (applause) — good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from,” Biden said.
That response distills the difference between MAGA Republicans and real Americans who are real Americans, tweeted The Nation justice correspondent Elie Mystal:
Biden saying that the heckler is “entitled to be outrageous” is the difference, right there between Biden and Trump. Or liberals and MAGA.
Trump and MAGA would call for that heckler to be beaten.
Esquire‘s Charlie Pierce anticipated the discomfort that the “both sides” media would have in stating the facts as bluntly as Biden did:
Here’s the problem for the elite political media: To cover the threat to the republic truthfully, they’re going to have to write/broadcast things that have collateral benefits to the Democratic Party. No way around it. The point is not to worry about that.
And, oh, did the memes and outrage flow Thursday night. Wingnuts circulated photoshopped images of Biden with the background dimmed to an ominous black. Here’s a sampling of the responses:
Finally, this quote from Hellboy comes to mind:
Professor Trevor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm : In the absence of light, darkness prevails. There are things that go bump in the night, Agent Myers. Make no mistake about that. And we are the ones who bump back.
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