The Biden Ultimatum
11th October 2022
Instead of defending his record in office or heralding his party’s legislative accomplishments, Joe Biden launched into midterm campaigning with a strategy of demonization. As summer turned to fall, he delivered a demagogic sermon that painted “MAGA Republicans” as an existential threat to the Republic and warned of the imminent collapse of American democracy.
When it comes to who, exactly, these “MAGA Republicans” are, Biden is less specific. But the term certainly isn’t limited to hardline election deniers or proponents of political violence. Targets of the deliberately vague insult have included pro-life conservatives, opponents of federal voting laws, those who deviate from the left’s transgender orthodoxy and anyone who differs from the Democrats on a number of other substantive policies about which there should be room for legitimate disagreement.
In the steady ratcheting-up of election rhetoric, it has long been true that the parties must pretend that every election is the most important in American history. Biden has unlocked another level of alarmism: the other side aren’t just deplorables, they’re “semi-fascists.” Vote for us or this might be the last election in American history, is the implication.