President Biden kicked off the Democrats’ fall campaign season by attacking the so-called Maga Republicans as a threat to democracy, nearly two years after pledging to be a “president for all people”
At a big event in Philadelphia during prime time, Mr. Biden took a serious tone and talked about the upcoming midterm elections as a fight for “the soul of America.” He said that people who supported former President Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again” movement were a threat to the rule of law, the country’s reputation around the world, and civil rights.
“Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal. Mr. Biden said Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic,”
The president went out of his way to stress that he wasn’t trying to paint all Republicans with the same brush. Instead, he was going after Mr. Trump’s supporters, who, he says, have “dominated” and “intimidated” the rest of the party.
He also accused “MAGA Republicans” of refusing to recognize free and fair elections, threatening violence in response to unpopular policies, and opposing “the will of the people.”Mr. Biden also slammed Trump supporters for not accepting the results of the 2020 election, saying that “democracy cannot survive” in a world where they think that way.
The speech was made 10 weeks before the midterms in Pennsylvania, a swing state Mr. Biden will visit three times this week.
These recent comments show how the Democrats try to make themselves and President Biden look like heroes who are standing up to what they see as anti-democratic MAGA forces that want to take over the country with authoritarianism.
Mr. Biden got cheers from the 300 invited guests in the room, but he was also interrupted by protesters, including a man with a bullhorn who shouted things at him. The president told them they had a “right to be outrageous,” but when he fired back, he went off script.
Some say Trump loyalists may wear his criticisms as a badge of honor, like when Hillary Clinton called Republicans “deplorables.”
Republicans say that Mr. Biden and Democrats are the ones spreading a divisive ideology, and they called him out for not recognizing left-wing violence, such as the firebombing and other attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and the plan to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
A YouGovAmerica poll that came out this week found that 66% of Americans think the country has become more divided since Biden took office. 63% of those polled said they think the country will become even more divided, and 62% said they think political violence will get worse over the next few years.
