“Und hier ist meiner Meinung nach, was wahr ist: MAGA-Republikaner respektieren die Verfassung nicht. Sie glauben nicht an den Rechtsstaat. Sie erkennen den Willen des Volkes nicht an. Sie weigern sich, die Ergebnisse einer freien Wahl zu akzeptieren, und sie arbeiten gerade jetzt, während ich spreche, in einem Bundesstaat nach dem anderen daran, Partisanen und Kumpels die Macht zu geben, Wahlen in Amerika zu entscheiden, und Wahlverweigerer zu befähigen, die Demokratie selbst zu untergraben.”
– Joe Biden
This excerpt, in what one can only assume was the original German from which it was derived, was a call to arms by the President of the United States to excise a cancerous growth within the body politic of the nation. Biden calls them the “MAGA Republican.” So before we pick up the pitchforks and torches and chase the hideous monster to the cliff, maybe we should define what a “MAGA Republican” is.
Definitions are anathema to the modern Democratic Party. Words such as “marriage,” “life,” “men,” “women,” “equality,” and far more have had their definitions changed on a whim, for political purposes. It’s no surprise that Biden did not adequately define what a “MAGA Republican” is. So we must got through his speech to work out a definition of our own.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” Okay, so a MAGA Republican is someone who supports Donald Trump, either personally or politically. That’s a large group, which could be defined as the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump.
But Biden dismisses that immediately. “Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.” Okay, so what ideology is he talking about? Well, he says, “I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.”
So a “mainstream Republican” is someone that Joe Biden is “able to work with.” So if you are not able to work with Joe Biden, then you are a MAGA Republican? Work with Joe Biden on what? The “American Rescue Plan” - which did nothing to rescue America - received no Republican votes. The “Inflation Reduction Act” - which did nothing to reduce inflation - received no Republican votes. Even bipartisan legislation like the infrastructure law was rejected by 60% of Senate Republicans and nearly all Congressional Republicans. Same is true with the gun legislation that was passed. Biden’s legislative agenda was passed despite next to no Republican support. So who, according to Joe Biden, are the Republicans he is “able to work with” who do not deserve to be labeled as “MAGA Republicans”?
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” says Joe Biden. Well, that is an interesting statement. Was it MAGA Republicans who try to use OSHA to mandate COVID vaccines on all Americans?
“They do not believe in the rule of law.” Was it MAGA Republicans who burned down major cities, causing dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage during the summer of 2020, while calling to defund the police?
“They do not recognize the will of the people.” Was it MAGA Republicans who insisted that the 2016 election was stolen, or that Stacey Abrams is the rightful Governor of Georgia?
“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.” Wasn’t it Republicans in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Mike Pence himself who certified the election results in 2020, giving Joe Biden the Presidency?
“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.” Strong words from someone who claims that it’s MAGA Republicans who don’t “respect the Constitution.” Where in the Constitution are any of these rights? They do not exist, and a simple recognition of that fact does not mean you “threaten the very foundations of our Republic.” Yet even if you agree with Biden on each of these issues, if you recognize the simple fact that the Constitution does not contain these “rights,” you are a “MAGA Republican”
So what’s the ask from Joe Biden? What is he trying to accomplish by branding at least half the country as “a threat to this country”? His goal is twofold. First, he’s undermining the results of the 2022 and 2024 elections before a single ballot is cast. “And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections. They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people.” What if the will of the people is to send the Democrats packing? What if Republicans take not only the House and the Senate, but Democrat strongholds like the Governorship of New York? Joe Biden is saying outright that the results of the election are illegitimate, because the “MAGA forces” have been working towards this moment for years.
Then there’s the second ask: Act on behalf of Joe Biden. “But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can, we are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. There are far more Americans, far more Americans from every background and belief, who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. And folks, it’s within our power, it’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy.” How do you stop an assault? With action! With aggression! With political violence! Biden is telling his supporters, who, since Trump was elected, have displayed a penchant for violence, that they will not be subject to the same laws that those who walked into the Capitol on January 6 are subject to. The Vice President of the United States raised funds to bail out BLM rioters, while those who peacefully walked into the Capitol building and then peacefully left are rotting in solitary confinement. This is a two-tiered justice system.
Then there are the topics that Biden did not discuss. He didn’t mention the pro-life pregnancy centers that are being firebombed. He didn’t discuss the rise in crime in every major city in the country. He doesn’t talk about the economy, or inflation, or the border, or the attempted assassination of a Supreme Court Justice, or the leaking of a SCOTUS decision, or any of the dozens of other issues that energize his base of support to the point of violence. He doesn’t do anything to lower the political temperature of the country. He only increases it.
This is all about the content of the speech, because anyone who has actually seen images of the speech can conjure up a few descriptive words; evil, demonic, and fascistic are a few that come to mind. The blood-red background (which was muted to a lighter pink mid-broadcast on CNN), the flanking of the military, the rage that the words induced in Biden’s facial expressions and hand gestures - all of it painted the image of the authoritarian. This is consistent with Biden’s preferred method of governance: deep centralization of power in his own branch of government. Only such a dictatorial mindset would give Biden the gall to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to transfer the debt of his political allies to his political opponents, or sic the DOJ on his former (and possibly future) political rival.
Yet Biden’s gall knows no limit. Either that, or he is as blind, deaf, and dumb as his greatest critics accuse him of being. These are the only explanation for saying, without a hint of self-awareness, that it’s the MAGA Republicans who “promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned 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.” He doesn’t hear the irony when he says that “history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.”
Authoritarianism? Political violence? Does he own a mirror? Yes, these are terrible things, whoever is guilty of doing them. But the words sound hollow when uttered by a man who uses his pulpit to push the very thing he is calling out.
MAGA Republicans, by Biden’s own words, could be anyone. Even the next day, when asked if all Trump supporters are a threat to the country, he said, “I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country. I do think that anyone who calls for the use of violence, and fails to condemn violence when it’s used, refuses to acknowledge when an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which the rules you count votes. That is a threat to Democracy.”
So when Maxine Waters tells her supporter to gather a crowd when they see any member of the Trump cabinet, when Eric Holder says, “when they go low, we kick them,” when Kamala Harris bails out rioters, when burning cities are labeled “mostly peaceful protests” by CNN, when Hillary Clinton declares that Trump is an illegitimate President, when states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and others change their voting laws without going through the state legislatures and then count ballots behind closed doors - when all of these things happen, Joe Biden says that is a threat to democracy? Or does he mean when someone votes Republican?
Why should anyone believe that it’s the latter? Why should anyone find comfort in Biden’s words and feel they aren’t an enemy of the state? Biden has demonized hundreds of millions of Americans, yet claims to be a uniter. He must be called out for what he is: the Divider-in-Chief, the puppet of the far-left, and the Authoritarian of the United States Of America.
If Joe Biden’s enemies are the MAGA Republicans, count me as one.
Moshe Hill is a political columnist and Senior Fellow at Amariah, an America First Zionist organization. Moshe has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Daily Wire, CNS News, and other outlets. You can follow Moshe on his blog www.aHillwithaView.com , facebook.com/aHillwithaView, and twitter.com/HillWithView.