“I can sum it up in 7 words: We the People, but not you people.”
—–Allegedly non-partisan blogger Ann Althouse (she’s a Democrat), providing a preview of her soon to be posted review of Biden’s “soul of the nation” speech.
As soon as I read that Biden was going to give a prime-time speech on the peril to the “soul of the nation,” I knew exactly what was coming, what motivated it (panic and desperation, plus terrible advisers), and what it would be: the ultimate IIPTDXTTNMIAFB.
And wildly unethical, of course: irresponsible, disrespectful, unfair, and un-American, as well as hypocritical, indeed a betrayal, from a leader who promised on his Inaugeration Day, “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. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
Was I wrong?
I haven’t read the various pundits about the speech yet, and I haven’t read the text yet; I have a doctor’s appointment and I don’t want to be nauseous. I am curious about whether any of the usual Biden cheer-leaders will have the integrity to state the obvious, and what was obvious the second the speech was announced. This is deliberate divisiveness. It is the essence of totalitarian messaging; it is more fascist in intent and substance than anything Donald Trump ever did or said.
The thing should backfire as much as Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech.
Ann, as usual, obsesses about a tangential detail: Biden’s use of “Hail to the Chief” to bring himself on screen. She writes:
Imagine if Trump had entered his political rallies with “Hail to the Chief” instead of “God Bless the U.S.A.” To assist you in your imagination, I’ll quote what one English professor, Joseph Rezek, said in March 2017:
There’s a through-line connecting ‘Hail to the Chief’ and the Scottish character at the beginning of it all and Trump that I find totally disturbing… What strikes me… about the analogy with Trump, though, is that Dhu commands absolute loyalty in the feudal way. You have to pledge allegiance. Hail to the Chief—that phrase is about the kind of loyalty you have to show. Trump’s insistence upon such loyalty is the same thing. That can make a seemingly innocuous moment, when the song is played for him, seem a bit darker.
And when it’s played for Biden, does it make the moment darker? It was nighttime, and the backdrop — Independence Hall — was lit in deep red. The rhetoric was demonizing the enemy, the American enemy among us, the people who are not “normal,” not “mainstream.” And our “soul” is at stake.
“Imagine if President Trump did X that the news media is accepting from Biden”! True, I haven’t reviewed the news media, but whys should they start exhibiting integrity now?
Althouse’s commenters, who once were primarily left-leaning and now have only a few remaining Democrat loyalists, are brutal. Here are the first three…
- “After Brandon’s Nuremberg rally last night, it’s “Heil! to the Chief””
-
“MAGA Republicans” he calls us. Won’t name a single one of them except of course Donald Trump. Then he calls 70 million Americans a “clear and present danger” to the United States of America. That’s what President’s do when they’re authorizing drone strikes.
“This guy is fucking insane.
“He’s setting the stage for a Hitlerian purge of the United States. Setting the stage for the rounding up of millions of people and sending them off to concentration camps to be slowly murdered. It’s time the media executives in this country begin to realize that the danger isn’t MAGA Republicans … it’s our mentally deficient President. I suspect most of the elite are beginning to realize they’ve overplayed their hand with this moron, seeing as how they were careful to avoid showing anybody his actual speech. Only CNN and MSNBC aired it after having read the advance copy of this speech. Even they could see how demented this is and that it shouldn’t be broadcast.”
- “Personally, I’m very happy that divisive Trump character is no longer in office. Just consider where we’d be as country if Trump was still nominally in charge…”
And here’s the latest so far:
-
“What next, personal loyalty oaths to Joe Biden? You know, like in England and National Socialist Germany. Screw those oaths to the Constitution.”
—John [Stop fascism vote Republican] Henry
And all similar in between.
Yeah, I’m not going to rush any to see the actual speech. I knew what was coming. Didn’t you?
Added: You don’t know how tempted I was to use one of the many versions of that photo above that added a Hitlerian mustache to Joe’s face. I decided it was cheap, but boy, did he ask for it.
Or so I’ve heard…
Ethics Alarms 
He’s established the greatest Motte and Bailey to go after Republicans. “No no, we’re only going after *MAGA* Republicans. If you are a *good* Republican, you’re safe” meanwhile they’ll go after *all* Republicans.
If anyone has been watching and listening and doesn’t see that the Democrats plan on doing something drastic and terrifying this Fall to make sure they don’t lose the House or Senate then they need to wake up and wake up fast.
In my best Don Corleone voice:
Now Listen, Whoever Comes To You Praising This Speech, They’re The Traitor. Don’t Forget That
Bingo.
I’m genuinely afraid to check Facebook…
Here’s one from right smack dab in the middle of The 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality, and in Ann Althouse’s backyard:
Deke Rivers/Caffeinated Politics: President Biden Addresses Battle For Soul Of The Nation
As I suspected there would be, there was plenty of psychological projection in Biden’s speech.
People have been privately telling me that I’m a bit over the edge and dismally pessimistic when I talk or write about my observations of our society, culture and nation around me, well I think this speech from the sitting President of the United States of America (“United” is a bit oxymoron these days) will be used as more evidence to show that we’re sliding down a very slippery slope into the abyss of totalitarianism.
President of the United States opens his mouth and intentionally inserts a massive ideological wedge between the left and the right; such a sad state of affairs.
We are irretrievably broken.
I think what you meant to say was “forever irreparably damaged” . . . .
–Dwayne
Jack wrote, “You don’t know how tempted I was to use one of the many versions of that photo above that added a Hitlerian mustache to Joe’s face. I decided it was cheap, but boy, did he ask for it.”
That picture immediately reminded me of a child throwing a fit, kinda like this one…
That tirade, and surely it was a tirade shows again that words are not what they seem to mean. The orator proclaimed that half the nation is anti-everything his party supports. This particular orator had announced, and his minions believed that he would be the great unifier Yet his words and the ire he demonstrated last night were in essence a declartion of war against any and all who disagree with the policies and the persons he implements and hires.
My biggest concern is that this is an attempt to goad his detractors into doing something as foolish as January 6th no matter how trivial. That will give them the ammunition to invoke martial law and start arresting the opposition. There are far too many Americans who are woefully ignorant of history and as long as he keeps giving them stuff, they will support him. I hope at some point, they all have to hold their heads in shame when they realize that they were conned into being the “good Germans”.
I am trying to come up with something pithy to encapsulate the irony of the claims he made last night and make one big yard sign to make my beliefs known.
I wonder how much Xi had to pay Biden to help accelerate the decline of the United States.
Why shouldn’t we go Wyatt Earp and say “we see an Antifa symbol, we kill the person wearing it?” It could well be an attempt to goad us into political violence, but the left might find out that’s a bigger bite than they can chew.
The “gaze into the abyss” quote comes to mind…
Gaze into the abyss long enough and it gazes back at you. At the first cup you drink the wine, at the second, wine drinks the wine, and at the third, the wine drinks you.
I would prefer that we simply marched into DC and push them to fire on us. That way we have the moral high ground. The Sumpter strategy.
“I wonder how much Xi had to pay Biden to help accelerate the decline of the United States.”
How much did he pay for Hunter Biden paintings?
Biden is nothing more than a sock puppet for the semi-secret cabal actually making policy. Let’s be realistic. One could hand dementia-jo a menu in French, call it a fabulous speech that will make him shine, and he would give it his best shot and never be the wiser.
Just in case anyone was unclear about how the semi-secret Biden/Harris cabal views our country; this speech should leave no doubt.
November is just around the corner. Be patient good people and do not do anything stupid thereby forcing the evil woke proglibots to become increasingly radical. That is the wise play here.
Only CNN and MSNBC aired it after having read the advance copy of this speech. Even they could see how demented this is and that it shouldn’t be broadcast.”
I’ve noticed a few commenters even point out that CNN even changed the lighting from red to pink.
Just saw that. This should end with someone being fired either for technical incompetence or manipulation of facts.
Seriously, imagine if Trump had appeared with that backdrop and tell me how many memes would be flying around social media today.
So, is it ethical now to state “Let’s go, Brandon!”
jvb
No.
How about “Molon Labe?”
Yes, and “Bite me!”
jvb
I just went back and watched President Biden’s entire speech again on C-SPAN.
Absolutely everything he said about the political right are extrapolations to absurdity, pure psychological projections, and outright lies. This was pure and absolute demonization of the entire political right not just the MAGA Republicans, as he called them, and that’s from the President of the United States. I fully expect that this speech will be used by the political left as justification for outright persecution, intimidation and violence aimed directly at anyone and everyone they consider the political right. Almost all of this speech was the kind of dog whistle call to action that the irrational hordes of ignorant totalitarian sheeple have been waiting for – Republicans are evil and need to be destroyed.
I have absolutely no hope for a civilized political path out of this massive culture shift towards totalitarianism.
By the way, did you know Trump constantly breached democratic norms? Seriously, the next historian that talks about that should be tarred and feathered.
One of my longtime Usenet allies made this observation.
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=379059&p=4499368#post4499368
– Christopher Charles Morton, dba Deanimator
It can not happen soon enough.
These leftists are seeing a wholesale rejection of their authoritarian socialist agenda and have become desperate. They don’t know what else to do except lash out in ever increasing inflammatory and irrational tirades.
They are in effect accusing more than half the country of treason just for disagreeing with them. This is what they put up on biden’s teleprompter in the hope the people’s ire will be directed at him instead of them.
Has anyone been tracking the sales of MAGA hats and paraphernalia since this speech? I would bet it did better than the S&P 500, and Nasdaq. On another front remember his “threat” to use F15 against gun rights supporters. I assume he does not recall Britain unleashing its military might against the colonists of Massachusetts before the Declaration of Independence.
Does anyone wonder why he would be more willing top use F15s against gun owners than gangbangers?
Exactly so, Ed. Biden is the sacrificial figurehead. This feels to me like a desperate attempt to goad a few hotheads into doing something radical. Biden is certainly a one-term president (if he even makes it that far – the guy is falling apart before our eyes), so the real behind-the-scenes shot-callers have no qualms about burning him to the ground if that’s what’s needed to advance their agenda.
As much s the whole speech and spectacle alarmed and disgusted me, Joe’s desperation (or that of his handlers) was especially evidenced by his recitation of the same Big Lies the Left spouts day after day. Especially aggravating to me is the widely and indisputably discredited claim that the 1994 -2004 Assault Weapons Ban was effective in reducing mass shootings by any measurable degree, and especially not by one third (!) as Biden now claims. To the best of my recollection there have been at least two or three independent (not financed by the NRA or the firearms industry) analyses that show that any reduction in gun deaths under that law was statistically indistinguishable from zero. Yet the lie persists after being definitively disproven.
I concur with other commenters who suggest that the Left would actually love for some “MAGA Republican to go off the deep end and commit some violent act, providing an excuse for more draconian response on their part and speeding up the timeline for firearms seizures and creating the Gulags. This is why Biden’s DOJ is so actively working (often successfully) to infiltrate the membership of any gun-related or ostensibly “right-wing” group they can find. We strongly suspect that several applicants for membership in my local gun club/range have been FBI or BATFE informants. We have a specific club rule that prohibits any discussion (on club property) about building illegal weapons like machine guns, suppressors, short-barreled rifles, etc. or encouraging or abetting any act of armed violence against the government. I am sure there are many on the Left (and likely in the DOJ) who would love to have evidence to support a claim that our group (900 members) is a hotbed of insurrection, rather than a cross section of our local community who just happen to be firearms enthusiasts.
Wondering if our beloved non-partisan FBI, always correct and moral, never having to say “sorry we royally f#cked up,” is making any progress neutralizing the domestic terrorists calling themselves ANTIFA? Seems like there is some real work to be done there.
You are right to be suspicious Jim H., especially when certain newcomers begin to encourage criminal acts.