By now you’ve watched, heard, or read the transcript of Joe Biden’s speech from Thursday night. It was the biggest load of red meat (or plant-based fake-meat alternative) that the president could have thrown at his bluer-than-blue base.
The White House didn’t really do itself any favors by staging the speech the way it did. The Nazi propaganda comparisons make perfect sense, but when I saw the images of the speech, I thought of the Galactic Empire or the First Order from the Star Wars universe.
I didn’t watch Biden’s speech, but anytime I see the images from it, I expect him to whip out a lightsaber and vow to crush the Rebel Alliance and bring order to the galaxy.
— Chris Queen (@ChrisQueen) September 2, 2022
And it’s not hard to imagine the high dudgeon that we would have heard from the left had Donald Trump made a speech similar to Biden’s. In fact, remember how the press reacted when Trump called the mainstream media the “enemy of the people”? But Biden got away with it in Thursday’s speech, at least in the eyes of most of the corporate media.
Joe Biden had to make this speech. It’s imperative for him and the Democrats to put the focus on Donald Trump and to make him and his supporters into an enemy. The Biden cabal knows that independent and undecided voters could trend their way if they keep the focus on Trump as opposed to the horror this administration has made of this great country.
“Biden wants the midterms to be about Trump, to the extent that’s possible… and I see this speech substantively, in really important respects, it was totally indefensible,” said Rich Lowry on a National Review podcast.
But the most insidious thing about this speech was that Biden showed yet again his propensity to be a divider rather than a uniter — and his rhetoric goes beyond “MAGA Republicans.”
Remember when Biden touted his ability to unite and his commitment to being a president for everyone?
I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify.
Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States.
And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 23, 2020
That didn’t last much longer than the moment his handlers hit “tweet.” From the start, Biden has weaponized every part of the administrative state against anyone who doesn’t fall in line with his far-left agenda.
On day one, he signed executive orders enacting policies that crippled an entire industry in the name of “green energy.” His administration, coupled with Democrats in Congress, turned the IRS into an agency that will target hardworking Americans. This White House has sought to sic the Department of Justice on parents who are fed up with woke education. He and his spokesperson refused to condemn violent protests against Supreme Court justices who ruled in a way that offended the far left.
None of these actions served to target only “MAGA Republicans.” Only the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago strictly targeted a “MAGA Republican” — and the ultimate one at that.
Over at the New York Post, John Podhoretz wrote that “this speech was nakedly, even comically, designed not to elevate but to offend — to poke and taunt…”
And, lest you think that you’ll get off scot-free in Biden World because you don’t consider yourself a “MAGA Republican,” you’ve got another thing coming. Because anyone who doesn’t buy into the Biden agenda hook, line, and sinker is subject to the “threat to our democracy” treatment. Biden’s enemies’ list is always fluid, and all you have to do is cross him on policy or fall short of The Narrative™ and you’re a “threat to democracy” too.
Two of my PJ Media colleagues have made valid points about the way Biden is going after his enemies. Stephen “Vodkapundit” Green wrote of the president, “why wouldn’t he think he can use the coercive power of the state to silence his critics?
“It will only matter that you are not one of them. Or that you are not enough of an ally,” wrote Lincoln Brown. “Look no further than the long line of people who apologized and groveled for even the most minor of transgressions and were un-personed anyway. The railing against MAGA Republicans will in no way stop with MAGA Republicans. Any conservatives and no small number of liberals will become MAGA Republicans. Maybe even you.”
Gun rights? Biden’s Department of Commerce may be trying to sneak its way into a gun registry. Election integrity? If you try to make it harder for Democrats to cheat, you’re a racist in Biden’s eyes. Leave the decision on abortion to the states? If someone disrupts your peaceful home or tries to kill you, the Biden team thinks it’s understandable.
“I believe America is big enough for all of us to succeed, and that is the nation we’re building: a nation where no one is left behind,” Biden said Thursday night. But that only applies if you fall in line with the most authoritarian president we’ve seen since Woodrow Wilson and FDR. If you don’t get behind the president and his leftist allies, all bets are off. Forget “MAGA Republicans.” In Biden World, everyone who stands in his way is his enemy. Including you.
