On Thursday, President Joe Biden gave his major speech about the “soul of America” and the state of democracy in the United States in Pennsylvania, where Republican Doug Mastriano, a state Senator who wanted to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election, is running for governor.
Mr Mastriano was also present at the US Capitol the day of the January 6 riot (though he says he left before the riot) and bused supporters of Donald Trump to Washington on that day. If elected this November, he could easily go rogue and attempt to block the certification of the 2024 presidential election results if the commonwealth elects a Democrat for president.
These were the MAGA Republicans that Mr Biden chose to warn Americans about in his primetime address about the state of democracy.
“If we do our duty, in 2022 and beyond, then ages still to come will say, we — all of us here — we kept the faith, we preserved democracy,” he said toward the end of his address. And in doing so, Mr Biden has ensured that he will make the state of the future of the republic a major campaign issue.
There is evidence that Americans agree. Similarly, A CBS News released this week showed that 72 per cent of Americans say they believe the rule of law and democracy are under threat, with 86 per cent saying money in politics is the biggest threat, followed by 69 per cent who say they see a threat of political violence and 67 per cent who cite attempts to overturn elections.
It is that last threat that Mr Biden cited when he described MAGA Republicans. Republicans in crucial swing states like Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin have nominated people who say the 2020 election was stolen or who even haven’t ruled out throwing out the 2020 presidential election results. These were the Republicans that Mr Biden described.
“They see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections,” he said. He also not-so-subtly called out his former friend Senator Lindsey Graham for warning about “riots in the streets” if Mr Trump was indicted.
Mr Biden was quick to say that his words did not describe all Republicans.
“Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans are MAGA Republicans,” he said. “Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.”
This is partially just political bromides: All but 10 Republicans opposed impeaching Mr Trump for his actions on January 6 and only two of them survived their primaries. Two of the Republican Senators who voted to convict Mr Trump could be succeeded by acolytes whom the former president endorsed.
But fighting right-wing extremism requires showing the risks of such a regime, which is why he said that this regime would move the country “toward America where there is no right to choose. No right to privacy. No right to contraception. No right to marry who you love.”
Conversely, Mr Biden and Democrats offered a more optimistic alternative to MAGA ideology, hence why he laid out his administration’s recent string of accomplishments, such as the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and most recently signing the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest piece of climate legislation in the 21st century.
“The cynics and the critics tell us nothing can get done. But they’re wrong,” he said “there’s not a single thing America cannot do, not a single thing beyond our capacity if we do it together.”
By saying this, Mr Biden essentially argued that democracy still works and the United States does not need a would-be authoritarian government led by a strong man.
Of course, Mr Biden’s speech omitted some important aspects of how Democrats has failed to protect the right to vote – perhaps the greatest bulwark against fighting authoritarianism – largely as a result of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to change the filibuster, as well as Democrats’ inability to protect abortion rights because of Mr Manchin’s opposition even without the filibuster.
But while Mr Biden didn’t explicitly mention these, his point that democracy must be preserved also makes the case for beating back right-wing extremists, which could provide a windfall for a future Congress to pass these pieces of legislation.
