The GOP reaction to Biden's speech shows that his anti-MAGA strategy is working [View all]

[LetMyPeopleVote]

President Biden's plan to separate sane republicans from the MAGA republicans is working. The fact that MAGA republicans are so upset makes me smile

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/05/biden-speech-gop-reaction-hysteria/

Now that Biden has gotten so much of his agenda enacted, and with the midterm elections looming, he has switched to a more combative mode. His Thursday speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia was billed as a salvo in the continuing battle for “the soul of the nation,” but it was really a well-justified expression of rage and despair about what the Republican Party has become. The president is finally telling Democrats what they want to hear: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” This comes only a few days after he described the MAGA philosophy as “semi-fascism.”

As if on cue, Republicans screamed bloody murder, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accusing Biden of choosing “to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans.” So does this mean that Biden’s previous commitment to working with Republicans was merely transactional and has now been discarded in the heat of the campaign?

That is certainly the right-wing interpretation of his speech, with conservatives accusing Biden of discarding his campaign pledge to “unite our country” and not stoke “division.” (Republicans demonstrated their own commitment to unity and uplift after the speech by comparing Biden to Hitler and accusing him of being a “raving lunatic.”)

But note that Biden wasn’t calling out all Republicans — he was not, contrary to the GOP talking points, attacking “half the country.” He was careful to differentiate between normal Republicans and MAGA Republicans. “Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans,” he said. “Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.”

What Biden is doing is smart, if difficult to pull off: He is attempting to draw a dividing line between those Republicans who threaten U.S. democracy and those who don’t.