If you saw any footage of Joe Biden’s speech from hell last week, one of the first questions you may have asked yourself how the Washington Post’s Max Boot would try to defend it.
OK, maybe you didn’t ask yourself that question, specifically, but it’s usually a good question to ask after Joe Biden says and/or does something horrible because, generally speaking, Max Boot will try to find a way to defend it. And he did:
The GOP reaction to Biden’s speech has been so hysterical, one suspects, precisely because Republicans fear that his strategy – of turning “MAGA” into a toxic brand – may succeed. https://t.co/R70jbZ9WeT
— Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MaxBoot) September 5, 2022
Huh?
No, that's not it my dude https://t.co/Gg0yUayWUr
— Kate Paul Dillon. (@KatePaulDillon) September 6, 2022
No, it really isn’t.
Biden was not, contrary to the GOP talking points, attacking “half the country.” He was careful to differentiate between normal Republicans and MAGA Republicans. “Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans,” he said. https://t.co/R70jbZ9WeT
— Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MaxBoot) September 5, 2022
What Biden is doing is smart, if difficult to pull off: He is attempting to draw a dividing line between those Republicans who threaten U.S. democracy and those who don’t. https://t.co/R70jbZ9WeT
— Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MaxBoot) September 5, 2022
But he’s not, though. He’s very deliberately conflating “MAGA Republicans” with any Republican or conservative who holds mainstream conservative views like being pro-life. Biden is trying to blur the lines between far-Right extremists and Republicans/conservatives whose only “threat to democracy” is rejecting progressivism.
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Whatever figure you use for MAGA Republicans, it’s clear that they account for tens of millions of voters and pose a major threat to our democracy. But there are also millions of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who aren’t hardcore Trumpkins and who are up for grabs. This includes “Never Trump” former Republicans like me (Twitchy editor’s note: Max Boot is not, in fact, “up for grabs.” He sold his soul to the Left as soon as he realized the pay was better). In elections that are likely to be decided at the margins, in a handful of swing states or competitive districts, relatively small shifts in sentiment can produce a political earthquake.
…By focusing on “MAGA Republicans,” Biden is trying once again to persuade independents and the small number of moderate Republicans to support Democratic candidates. His strategy could backfire by simply firing up enthusiasm among Trump supporters (as was the case with Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment), but there is evidence to suggest it might be working.While Biden has started attacking “MAGA Republicans,” Democrats’ election prospects have improved, boosted by gains among independents. A lot of that shift is because of support for abortion rights, a decline in gas prices and Democratic success in passing legislation, but a recent NBC News poll found that voters rank threats to democracy as their No. 1 concern. The GOP reaction to Biden’s speech has been so hysterical, one suspects, precisely because Republicans fear that his strategy — of turning “MAGA” into a toxic brand — might succeed.
Millions of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who aren’t hardcore Trumpkins also had huge problems with Biden’s speech and found it angry and divisive and just straight-up terrible. They’ve reacted with outrage to Biden’s speech because Biden’s speech was legitimately outrageous.
But those millions don’t count to Max Boot for some reason.
Max decided he was not getting enough attention–so a little adulation of Biden's hate speech was in order. https://t.co/EdLqlCW4ZB
— mallen2010 (@mallen_2010) September 6, 2022
So stunning. So brave.
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