FOURTH, the speech had a very specific near-term political purpose: to put Trump, who is more unpopular than the still-underwater Biden, at the center of the midterms to nationalize the election as a choice between Bidenism and MAGA.
Left unaddressed by Biden was another political aspect of the current democracy debate: how Democrats have boosted election deniers in primaries across the country.
It’s not exactly surprising that Biden is melding his warnings about democratic backsliding with his own political interests. But the speech — and the fierce reaction from top Republicans like KEVIN McCARTHY, who, in a prebuttal that the NYT likened to “an extended taunt of ‘I know you are, but what am I?’” said Biden “has launched an assault on our democracy” — made one thing more clear. The idea of safeguarding democracy has now become a partisan issue.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member