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THE STAGE is impressive. A show of strength and power of the president who, almost in unison, has been described as the weakest in history. Some analysts, demonstrating their lack of malice and showing their fragile innocence, said that it is a political “mistake;” asking themselves who was the advisor who came up with such a staging. They are wrong, dear analysts, it is not a mistake, it is the manual of demonizing the opposition, played by the book by the Democrats in the last year.
Have you not been paying attention to the last week? Have you not heard Biden calling Trump supporters semi-fascists? Charlie Crist in Florida literally admitting that he doesn’t want the vote of Ron DeSantis supporters because they have “hate in their hearts”?
U.S. President Joe Biden gave a divisive and incendiary prime-time speech from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. (EFE)
How about the White House using official channels to politically attack its adversaries? Didn’t you see it?
MAGA Republican elected officials refuse to accept the results of free and fair elections.
147 Congressional Republicans voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. https://t.co/yVC9fvQzfH
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 2, 2022
And the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, the woman who should avoid polemicizing in front of the press, calling the pro-life movement “semi-fascist” and “extremist?”
Or perhaps one should go further back and recall the infamous memo by Attorney General Merrick Garland where he basically endorsed the NSBA’s assertion that criticism by American parents concerned about their children’s education against school districts “could be the equivalent of domestic terrorism.”
One could name many more instances of how Democrats, from Joe Biden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from Nancy Pelosi to the least relevant state congressman, have attacked the opposition in the last five years; adopting an inflammatory discourse against the opposition, scapegoating the MAGA movement and its leaders, but targeting all those who do not believe in their political agenda.
Ben Shapiro said: “When [Biden] says ‘the MAGA Republicans’ who is he talking about?…The 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump? Is he talking about even beyond that? Anyone who opposes his agenda now?…If you’re a pro-life person…are you a MAGA Republican or are you not?”
Of course, he is talking about the average American, the Trump voter; the DeSantis voter, i.e., almost all GOP voters. Biden’s speech yesterday is simply the latest demonstration of this radical agenda that seeks to demonize the opposition. A grim, chilling, unwavering display, with the leader of the “world’s freest” nation scowling, narrowing his eyes, clenching his fists and shouting at half the American people: You are the enemy of democracy!
#WATCH | “Too much of what's happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic”: Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/CAQ4CDL2D8
— El American (@ElAmerican_) September 2, 2022
The image is historic and dangerous, but coherent with what the Democratic Party has shown since it returned to dominate the White House and Congress. Coherent with what the Biden administration has been so far: an administration that promised unity, a supposed return to institutional normality and, instead, has not stopped betting on national polarization and conflict among Americans.
Not surprisingly, 66% of Americans think that political tension has deepened since the beginning of 2021 and, not surprisingly, expect a bleak future, with 63% expecting division to increase and 62% believing that political violence will worsen. Numbers from the latest YouGov survey.
In fact, this poll yields a statistic that is even more chilling than Biden’s bloodied background in Pennsylvania: 40% of Americans believe that a civil war could be fought in the United States.
Honestly, although it sounds far-fetched, almost utopian, the consequences of betting on the demonization of the opposition should not be underestimated. Biden and the Democrats are playing with fire with this dangerous card that could destroy the United States from its foundations.
Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.
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