oh no said:
oldyeller said:
for good or ill, Americans have certain expectations of whoever occupies the office of the Presidency. Our President represents us, and assuming the office generates a certain responsibility attached to the role he plays while occupying that office, thus the People are allowed to expect him to comport himself in a way that does not diminish the office he occupies. We want the individual who sits behind the Resolute Desk to be a sort of moral exemplar, or at the very least do his best to pretend his character is above reproach.
like screaming to the world that half of his own citizenry- especially the ones with jobs that fund his government through tax extortion- are "extremists"?
I suppose one could have thought that Biden was speaking ill of half the country, if one didn't actually
listen to/read his words and assumed he was speaking of Republicans in general, rather than a subset of Republicans who he labeled as "MAGA Republicans" which he characterized as engaging in "extremism." Nevertheless, if we look at the man's words, he was explicit about who he was referencing:
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Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I've been able to work with these mainstream Republicans. ...
These are hard things, but I'm an American president, not a president of red America or blue America, but of all America. And I believe it's my duty, my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful.
If you listen further, he even describes what he meant by extremism:
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And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they're working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.
I get that can sound alarming, because it was alarming, and as an attack if one considers oneself a MAGA Republican in a different sense than the one that Biden explicitly defined, yet recent events make it sound a bit prescient, particularly in regards to respect for the Constitution, with the President now calling for the nationalization of elections, in clear violation of
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution, his attacks on birthright citizenship, clearly in conflict with
the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, apparent disregard for
the 2nd Amendment in his response to the Pretti killing, and clear attacks on the
1st Amendment in the revocation of visas for those who engage in speech with which the administration objects, as well as recent attacks on the freedom of the press. Add to that several on the Right who claim that Due Process is for citizens, as they seek to deny apprehended immigrants full due process rights in an effort to expedite their removal, in spite of language in the 14th Amendment which explicitly states that "any person" has a right to due process.
Even if you are a Trump supporter, is it not at least a little unsettling when the President, who took an oath to the Constitution, forwards these positions so clearly at odds with that oath? And yeah, criticize Biden all you want, but consider the nature of your criticisms. If they are based upon your belief that he didn't fulfill his duties, and wasn't up to the job, then you understand what I meant when I stated that viewing the President through a values based lens is valid.
