Biden's speech of Sept 1 2022 link

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Biden: "Stupid people are stupid."

Stupid people: "Did you hear him? He just called all people stupid!!111one!1"

 

[Ford]

He condemned half of America as enemies of the state because they chose not to vote for him or his party.

No, he very specifically condemned far less than half of America as enemies of the state, because when their preferred candidate lost the election, they chose to attempt to violently overthrow the state.

Ah, but you see, the MAGA Republicans think they're the overwhelming majority of Americans. Indeed...the only "real" Americans! The only reason Trump lost the popular vote - twice - was the Hillary/Deep State/Socialist rigging of the election! Trump actually got eleventy billion votes, because everyone loves him (except the aforementioned cabal, left wing Hollywood, and paid George Soros/Antifa agitators)!

And as I'm sure you'll remember, the GOP (MAGA and "RINO") have long said they need to "take our country back," as it clearly belongs to them! It is and has always been a Conservative Christian nation, and anytime the libtards take over, something has gone terribly wrong! The MAGAs hear this all the time from the most popular news outlets like OAN, the most popular social media sites like Gab, Gettr, and of course Truth Social, and when they go to the Piggly Wiggly with their AR 15 over their shoulder and their "Let's Go Brandon" t-shirt, they see their fellow patriots doing the same, reinforcing their obviously correct belief that they are the overwhelming majority.

As for who is an "enemy of the state," that's easy: Whomever Trump names as one.

There, wasn't that easy?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Has a certain, "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuehrer" look about it.

Good. The only thing that can stop a bad guy with Hitler-like tendencies is a good guy with Hitler-like tendencies. It's about time some very fine people were in charge of the Whitehouse.

Doesn't matter anyways, you're dead fucking wrong. This has a Brotherhood of Nod vide towards it. And that's awesome.

Yeah! Fascism is cool when my side does it!

Left-wing fascism is Venezuela. We ain't Biden ain't Chavez. The oil fields aren't being nationalized.

Right-wing fascism looks like this, when the guy falsely proclaims widespread voter fraud without ever taking it to the courts and then tells his supporters they need to act to "save democracy", and half of the party he was a member of, voted in the House to overthrow votes.
View attachment 40103

That's wasn't facism. That was a riot. Fascism is the merger of the state and corporation. Like when the Biden Admin told social media companies to censor content it didn't like.

Which is the de-facto intent of the right.

 

[ZiprHead]

Has a certain, "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuehrer" look about it.

You don't like our nations colors?

 

[ZiprHead]

He condemned half of America as enemies of the state because they chose not to vote for him or his party. I can't recall, ever, a president using a primetime address to be so brazingly hateful and partisan. But to say that Biden is not the facist is kind of joke.

What, you never heard Trump speak??? Every time he was criticized claimed the person was un-American and used far more coarse language about them than anything Biden has ever said.

 

[lpetrich]

Right-wingers are having a cow, and I'm enjoying how much they get discomfited.

Ben Shapiro on Twitter: "That was the most demagogic, outrageous, and divisive speech I have ever seen from an American president. Joe Biden essentially declared all those who oppose him and his agenda enemies of the republic. Truly shameful. (pic link)" / Twitter

Lauren Boebert on Twitter: "Never before has a President shown such hatred for his fellow Americans." / Twitter

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Twitter: "
Joe Biden just declared all of us enemies of the state.
Biden is a danger to us all.
Joe Biden MUST BE IMPEACHED!!
(pic link)" / Twitter

J.D. Vance on Twitter: "I can’t believe this is a real photograph. It depicts the president of our nation, as he took to the airwaves and spoke about his fellow citizens as if they were sewer rats. (pic link)" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

... Fascism is the merger of the state and corporation. Like when the Biden Admin told social media companies to censor content it didn't like.

 Fascism

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement,[1][2][3] characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.[2][3]

Fascism Definitions | What does fascism mean? | Best 10 Definitions of Fascism
The top one:

A system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism, etc.

 

[lpetrich]

Opinion | Trump and MAGA Republicans are in a rage because Biden's speech hit his target - The Washington Post

Kevin McCarthy on Twitter: "Instead of trying to bring our country together to solve the MANY problems he has created, President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans—simply because they disagree with his policies.

Mr. President: you owe millions of Americans an apology. (pic link)" / Twitter

Ronna McDaniel on Twitter: "Angry. Divisive. Political. Stubborn. Failure. (pic link)" / Twitter
She's the GOP Chairwoman

Rep. Jim Jordan on Twitter: "Unity. (pic link)" / Twitter

In coming days, these Republicans will retreat into right-wing media safe spaces to fulminate without facing cross-examination. But when they venture into mainstream forums, they should be pressed on specifics.

Then going into detail about President Biden's speech.

On that latter score, in fact, some scholars of political breakdown fear that the MAGA takeover of large swaths of the GOP really does portend future political violence and instability. Not civil war, necessarily, but higher levels of violence directed at influencing or contesting political outcomes.

And so, at a fundamental level, Biden’s core claim — that Trump and the swaths of the GOP allied with him pose a foundational threat — is absolutely reasonable.

 

[lpetrich]

Read the Full Transcript of Biden’s Speech in Philadelphia - The New York Times

I speak to you tonight from sacred ground in America: Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pa.

This is where America made its declaration of independence to the world more than two centuries ago, with an idea unique among nations: that in America, we’re all created equal.

This is where the United States Constitution was written and debated. This is where we set in motion the most extraordinary experiment of self-government the world has ever known.

Looks like he chose his location very deliberately, for the symbolism.


Takeaways From Biden’s Speech in Philadelphia - The New York Times

It’s still about Trump.

... Mr. Biden tacitly acknowledged that his predecessor still looms over the politics of the moment, like it or not. And he took it to Mr. Trump directly, calling him out by name and seeking to differentiate between “the MAGA Republicans” loyal to Mr. Trump and what he deemed reasonable Republicans who still stand by the American democratic experiment.

“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” he said. “And that is a threat to this country.”

Approval ratings be damned.

But on Thursday, the White House rolled the dice, apparently assuming that lying low would not help matters and hoping that a big, televised speech might remind voters why they chose Mr. Biden in 2020. Republicans have caricatured the president as a doddering old man, unable to assemble a string of coherent sentences. Rather than let such aspersions go unchallenged, the White House moved to dispel them with a forceful speech that would, if nothing else, rally the Democratic base, which was already energized by the Supreme Court’s decision to end the nearly 50-year-old right to an abortion.

Good that he is willing to seem less cowardly. After the cowardice of the Clinton and Obama Admins, that is a step forward. Abraham Lincoln and FDR weren't whimpering cowards, perpetually trying to make their opponents happy even as their opponents denied their legitimacy.

The two Americas, divided and suspicious.

After Trump's divisiveness,

In his speech, Mr. Biden took pains to say, “Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans; not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.” But a Republican Party still dominated by Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again ideology was not going to accept that distinction, not when the tribe of “Never Trump” Republicans has shriveled to a tiny cohort.

On Thursday, it was the Republicans’ turn to denounce the divisiveness of a president who was scorning them. The Republican National Committee cast Mr. Biden as “the divider-in-chief” who “epitomizes the current state of the Democrat Party: one of divisiveness, disgust, and hostility towards half the country.”

But at times, the Republican response felt like an extended taunt of “I know you are, but what am I?”

It’s not the economy: a possibly stupid position.

On Thursday night, he seemed to set that aside to make the election about an entirely different issue: the fate of democratic pluralism.

“America is still the beacon to the world, an ideal to be realized, a promise to be kept,” he concluded. “There’s nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American. That’s our soul.”

 

[laughing dog]

The idea that all Trump voters are MAGA is untrue. I know some Trump voters and the only reason they voted for Trump is that they did not want Democrat to win. So, the conclusion that Biden called all Trump voters threats is false.

 

[lpetrich]

Biden Warns That American Values Are Under Assault by Trump-Led Extremism - The New York Times

President Biden traveled to Independence Hall on Thursday to warn that America's democratic values are under assault by forces of extremism loyal to former President Donald J. Trump, using a prime-time address to define the midterm elections as a “battle for the soul of this nation.”

In a 24-minute speech, Mr. Biden blamed his predecessor for stoking a movement filled with election deniers and people calling for political violence. He went out of his way to declare that not all Republicans embrace extremism, however, and he said that defending democracy would require rejecting Mr. Trump and his ideology in elections this fall.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Mr. Biden said, flanked by Marine guards.

“But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” he added. “And that is a threat to this country.”

That's also unusual in a political movement. Donald Trump represents the opposite of many things that Republicans claim to stand for, yet many Republicans in public office are afraid to cross him. One WaPo editorial writer speculated that they want someone else to get Trump out of the way, so they wouldn't be blamed for it. But they are lacking in the kind of political courage that Liz Cheney showed -- and that Mikhail Gorbachev and Frederik Willem de Klerk showed.

He cited the “extraordinary experiment of self-government” represented by the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, saying that “history tells us a blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.”

A solution is to weaken or de-emphasize the top leader. That may be why parliamentary systems do so well in democracy rankings.

The president was interrupted by protesters who chanted “Let’s go Brandon,” a reference to a crude epithet aimed at Mr. Biden that is popular among Mr. Trump’s supporters. At one point, the president joked that “good manners is nothing they ever suffered from,” but he also defended their right to protest, saying “they’re entitled to be outrageous.”

Biden’s Message Shifts From Compromise to Combat Ahead of Midterms - The New York Times - "President Biden is spending less time hailing the virtues of unity and more time calling out Republicans and dangers to democracy."

He has accused Republicans of embracing “semi-fascism” by paying fealty to former President Donald J. Trump. He has blasted the party for being “full of anger, violence, hate and division.” And he has warned that the danger from Republicans loyal to Mr. Trump went far beyond differences in policy.

“They’re a threat to our very democracy,” he said of a party that he has spent a half-century working with to find common ground. “They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace political violence.”

Nice to see him combative instead of Clinton-Obama wimpiness.

 

[lpetrich]

As Biden warned about democracy’s collapse, TV networks aired reruns - The Washington Post - "While broadcasters typically air a prime-time address by the president, they determined that this speech was more ‘political’ than newsworthy for live coverage"

While President Biden warned the nation about threats to democracy in a prime-time address on Thursday, ABC was airing a game show, “Press Your Luck.”

As Biden spelled out his objections to former president Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans,” NBC was broadcasting a rerun of “Law and Order.” CBS skipped the speech to show a rerun of “Young Sheldon.”

...
People involved in negotiations over Thursday’s address said the networks deemed Biden’s remarks as “political” in nature and therefore decided not to televise it. These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions, cited the speech’s criticism of Trump — who may run in the Republican presidential primaries in 2024 — and its timing two months before the midterm elections.

Broadcast Networks So Far Are Holding Off On Carrying Joe Biden Speech – Deadline

ABC ran Press Your Luck, CBS went with a Young Sheldon rerun and NBC with a Law & Order replay. CNN and MSNBC carried the address, as did news division streaming channels, but Fox News stuck with Tucker Carlson and his critique of the speech as it was happening.

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[scombrid]

The idea that all Trump voters are MAGA is untrue. I know some Trump voters and the only reason they voted for Trump is that they did not want Democrat to win. So, the conclusion that Biden called all Trump voters threats is false.

The right is making MAGA the new deplorable. The right is telling people that voted for Trump that Biden called them an enemy of the state just for voting. It is a good tactic.

 

[lpetrich]

Included text from ZiprHead's tweet link:
Mehdi Hasan on Twitter: "Fox and the Republicans are losing their minds over Joe Biden calling MAGA "semi-fascist."
But they'd never call their political opponents "fascists," right? Right??
You'll be shocked, shocked I tell you! Roll the tape: (vid link)" / Twitter
With several right-wingers doing that: Newt Gingrich, Steve (?), Atty. Gnrl. Bill Barr, Jeanine Pirro, Tucker Carlson, Mark Levin, (?), Dan Crenshaw, (?), (?), Steve Miller

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

The idea that all Trump voters are MAGA is untrue. I know some Trump voters and the only reason they voted for Trump is that they did not want Democrat to win. So, the conclusion that Biden called all Trump voters threats is false.

The right is making MAGA the new deplorable. The right is telling people that voted for Trump that Biden called them an enemy of the state just for voting.

This is correct. We are at a moment, basically it is a repeat of the "half a basket of deplorables" moment. The right wing is screaming, using all their conservative media, social influencers, and straight-out lying propagandists to claim Biden said something he didn't quite say.

It is a good tactic.

I think it's a bit early to say. Of course, Biden could have used terminology less open to shenanigan interpretations like say "extremist wing of the Republican Party." On the other hand, Biden isn't Hillary and so many independents are more open to the message and get that MAGA Republicans doesn't mean all Republicans. Secondly, there are more tangible on-going struggles against the MAGA at the moment, including the Jan 6th hearings, for example. This will continue to get exposure with non-MAGA Republicans like Cheney participating in the findings.

 

[pood]

He condemned half of America as enemies of the state because they chose not to vote for him or his party. I can't recall, ever, a president using a primetime address to be so brazingly hateful and partisan.

Such irony. Totally unintended, I’m sure.

 

[ZiprHead]

Included text from ZiprHead's tweet link:
Mehdi Hasan on Twitter: "Fox and the Republicans are losing their minds over Joe Biden calling MAGA "semi-fascist."
But they'd never call their political opponents "fascists," right? Right??
You'll be shocked, shocked I tell you! Roll the tape: (vid link)" / Twitter
With several right-wingers doing that: Newt Gingrich, Steve (?), Atty. Gnrl. Bill Barr, Jeanine Pirro, Tucker Carlson, Mark Levin, (?), Dan Crenshaw, (?), (?), Steve Miller

Was it really necessary to create a link to something that people can actually already see without leaving the site?

 

[lpetrich]

I prefer linking to inlining - it's more reliable and causes less clutter.

Kevin McCarthy on Twitter: "Instead of trying to bring our country together to solve the MANY problems he has created, President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans—simply because they disagree with his policies.
Mr. President: you owe millions of Americans an apology. (pic link)" / Twitter
then
Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "You defended Trump who called Democrats “savages” & ”unAmerican”, wanted to send American citizens who are lawmakers back to God knows where, mocked Americans with disabilities, embraced white supremacists and said women should be grabbed by the pussy.
Maybe sit this one out." / Twitter


Rep. Jim Jordan on Twitter: "Biden calling half the country “extremists,”while inflation soars, grocery prices rise, and crime skyrockets is not the “unity” that was promised." / Twitter
then
Steve Schmidt on Twitter: "I’ll explain it. First, you are in fact a fascist. Second he did not call half the country anything. He precisely called a malignancy a malignancy. The malignancy is MAGA and he was speaking of the extremist hustlers like you. The American crisis is being caused by an internal" / Twitter
and
Steve Schmidt on Twitter: "2/ threat. It numbers in the thousands. @Jim_Jordan is part of that threat. President Biden talked about the pancreatic cancer not the human body infected by it. He talked about MAGA not Republicans. He talked about America, democracy and a very real threat. U are the threat Jim" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Right-wing commentator Jonah Goldberg once wrote a book called "Liberal Fascism".

• Liberal Fascism — Jonah Goldberg
• Liberal Fascism - Jonah Goldberg - Book Review - The New York Times
• Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.

From that last one:

Why did Jonah Goldberg write Liberal Fascism? To find out, you must wade through 391 pages of tendentious scholarship. A mighty jackbooted procession—Herbert Croly, John Dewey, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Herbert Marcuse, John F. Kennedy, Saul Alinsky, Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton—goose-steps across the page to illustrate Goldberg’s apparent belief that, with the exception of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and everything published in National Review (where Goldberg is contributing editor), every word previously written or spoken in favor of mobilizing the citizenry was either proto-fascist, fascist, or heavily influenced by fascism. On Page 392, though, Goldberg emerges from his dusty carrel and gives it to us straight:

Ever since I joined the public conversation as a conservative writer, I’ve been called a fascist and a Nazi by smug, liberal know-nothings, sublimely confident of the truth of their ill-informed prejudices. Responding to this slander is, as a point of personal privilege alone, a worthwhile endeavor.

Liberal Fascism, then, is a howl of rage disguised as intellectual history. Some mean liberals called Goldberg hurtful names, so he’s responding with 400 pages that boil down to: I know you are, but what am I?