Biden Just Delivered One of the Most Important Speeches Any President Has Had to Deliver
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Last night, President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged in a prime time speech the existential threat myriad political writers (including this one), pundits, podcasters, former and current politicians, and journalists have been warning about for years — the rise of right-wing extremism.
While there have always been racist, xenophobic, fascistic elements present in American life, it is not hyperbole to compare today’s escalating peril to democracy to that which engulfed Europe a century ago.
Speaking for 23 minutes in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pa., Biden called his predecessor out by name when alerting the American people that “Donald Trump and the MAGA republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.”
While citing all examples of these extreme threats over just the past half decade is too daunting, the president summed it up:
“History tells us blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.
“They’re [MAGA republicans] 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.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.”
In an obvious dig to South Carolina Lindsey Graham, who recently warned of violent backlash if Donald Trump is charged for stealing classified documents, Biden proclaimed:
“There are public figures — today, yesterday and the day before —…
