Reason
Back in the distant year of 2020, Joe Biden sold himself as a unifier, able to bridge divides created by then-President Donald Trump.
What a long way he’s fallen. Last week, he took to a stage to denounce his political opponents as a “threat to this country” in a setting seemingly chosen by 20-something staffers who dusted off imagery from V for Vendetta. And he did so not as a political candidate, but “as your president.” Even for those of us who agree that Republicans are a flawed bunch defined by their loyalty to a wannabe caudillo, Biden’s alternative is just a different brand of authoritarianism. …
It’s true that former President Trump threw a temper tantrum when he lost the 2020 election and that his supporters rioted at the Capitol. To this day, Trump and company nurse fantasies of stolen elections. But it’s not clear what use for the Constitution and rule of law is harbored by his successor, who took office with an avalanche of executive orders that disconcerted even The New York Times editorial board and recently launched a half-trillion-dollar vote-buying scheme by unilaterally forgiving student loans.
“Look, I know politics can be fierce and mean and nasty in America,” Biden added. “I get it. I believe in the give-and-take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent.”
He believes in disagreement, debate, and dissent? Really? But his administration quietly deputized supporters at social media companies to suppress disfavored news stories and viewpoints, as revealed through emails uncovered in a lawsuit by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri.
[This was my basic thesis in my column on Friday and reprinted on Saturday — “Biden’s soulless screed a smokescreen for what really ails the nation.” — Ed]
