Joe Biden the divider

   

By Reginald Johnson

Commentary

   Prior to last Thursday night’s speech by President Biden at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, entitled “A Battle for the Soul of America,”  administration officials promised that the address would be high-minded and non-political.

 Well, it was anything but that. In fact, Joe Biden delivered one of the most divisive and irresponsible speeches ever given by a President during an official address.

 Speaking in dark lighting with two Marines standing guard in the background, Biden lashed into Donald Trump and his supporters --- that’s about 75 million people ---and effectively called them enemies of the state.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent in extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic.”

 Since most of the Republican Party are Trump supporters, Biden was calling Republicans traitors.

 Joe McCarthy couldn’t have done it better.

 Remember, this is the same Joe Biden who urged Americans during his Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, 2021 to “lower the temperature” and work with him to “unite” the country. What hypocrisy.

Instead of bringing the country together, Biden’s speech --- together with other recent comments where he called Trump supporters “semi-fascists” ----  deepens the polarization in our land, already severe.

For someone who voted for Biden, this is a deep disappointment.

It appears that Biden and the Democrats --- looking at low poll numbers heading into the 2022 congressional elections and probably weak prospects in terms of retaining the presidency in 2024 --- have decided to go all out with a vitriolic campaign demonizing the Republicans and the likely 2024 GOP nominee,  Donald Trump.

As pollster and political analyst Tom Bevan of Real Clear Politics said on Thursday night, the Democrats are going “scorched-earth.”

This approach is in no way uplifting and will not help to move our country forward.

Biden condemned the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots perpetrated by Trump supporters which caused a great amount of damage, a lot of injuries and clearly interrupted the electoral process from going forward as provided for in the Constitution. On this one, Biden is right.  The violent behavior of Trump supporters at that incident was a disgrace and the prosecution of people who were involved in that is entirely proper and I certainly favor a continuing and objective investigation of what happened that day.

 But the implication that since some Trump backers were involved in that sorry chapter and Republicans in general hold objectionable views, means all Trump supporters and Republicans represent a “unique threat” to American democracy is flat-out dishonest.

President Joe Biden (Wikimedia commons)

 The fact of the matter is that some Democrats and their allies in the administrative state have also worked in recent years to subvert  the democratic process. As facts now amply demonstrate, the charge made in 2016 and 2017 that Trump was somehow colluding with Russia and that Russia was aiding him in getting elected was based on lies and fabrications made up in large part by operatives in the Hillary Clinton campaign.

  Democratic allies in the Federal Bureau of Investigation then aided and abetted this phony campaign first by trying to thwart Trump’s election chances and then trying to undermine his presidency after the New York businessman beat Clinton in the 2016 election. This was a coup attempt.

  As we all know, the Mueller investigation, after spending some $40 million and turning over every rock, found out that the claims about Trump Russia collusion were baseless.

  A Department of Justice Inspector General’s report and other investigations showed that many FBI and DOJ officials acted illegally during this period, lying to investigators and signing false affidavits, among other things.

  We also now know from whistleblowers stepping forward that FBI operatives worked behind the scenes to downplay the seriousness of the Hunter Biden corruption investigation in 2020 and tried to make sure that the media would not publicize any information about Hunter Biden’s alleged wrongdoing prior to the 2020 election.

 Playing the Russia card again, FBI officials along with other intelligence leaders, spread the false claim that what was in the Hunter Biden laptop was “Russian disinformation.” According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, FBI officials told Facebook officials that the negative information coming out of Biden’s laptop was likely from Russia and could not be trusted. As a result, Facebook and other media censored stories alleging illegal activity by Hunter Biden in his business dealings overseas --- and Joe Biden’s possible links to that corruption.

  The FBI suppression tactics clearly benefited Joe Biden in his presidential bid. Recent polls have shown that many Americans who voted for Biden now say that if they had known about the Hunter Biden laptop and what was in it prior to the election, they wouldn’t have voted for Joe Biden.

So this was clearly election interference and an attack on American democracy, perpetrated by Democrats and their allies in the intelligence community and media.

In in another case, Democrats and abortion rights activists launched an irresponsible campaign against a sacred institution in our government when they engaged in illegal protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices prior to the decision on overturning Roe v. Wade. The protests, combined with the arrest of a man bent on killing Justice Kavanaugh, were intimidating and represented an attack on the work of the court.

The upshot of all this is that Democrats as well as Republicans have engaged in or condoned improper and undemocratic activities in the past. Neither side is pure.

As a friend of mine in Bridgeport would say, ‘there’s been shit on both sides.’

What we need in this country are leaders who can rise above the fray, not pander to their bases and not engage in the politics of demonization. It would be helpful as well, if the media would do the same.

It’s going to take all of us, or at least a good majority of us --- and that includes Republicans --- to really move this country forward. The nation is plagued by a number of serious crises related to the economy and how we spend our budget dollars. On that last point alone, do we want to spend billions and billions of dollars on pointless and destructive wars overseas, or spend them on addressing critical needs at home? I think there’s common ground there.

 But it’s going to take real leaders to find those areas of agreement, to nurture them and move forward.

Joe Biden, instead of sounding like a demagogue villifying an opposition group, would do well to follow the words he spoke at his Inauguration: “We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos… We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility.”

 Amen.