Ironically, President Biden saved his most pointed and specific remarks to date about the Republican threat to democracy during a “Tonight Show” appearance on Friday night. Telling host Jimmy Fallon he “prays” for passage of voting rights protections, Biden declared that “what’s going on now, in about 30 states, is literally un-American. It’s about trying to prevent people from voting, rather than allow them to vote.” While he might have been more precise in identifying the Republicans as the ones doing the anti-democratic skulduggery, it was at least a sharp rebuke of anti-democratic laws Senate Republicans are protecting by use of the filibuster.
The last time he called out voter suppression as “un-American” was on July 13 in a speech in Philadelphia. Alas, then he was no more specific about who exactly is doing the suppression.
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On Friday’s show, Biden also stated that working across the aisle is difficult these days. “QAnon and the extreme elements of the Republican Party and what, Donald Trump keeps sort of, seems to me feeding the, you know what, the big lie, it makes it awful hard.” It’s not simply that the “big lie” and the conspiracy theories make dealmaking hard, of course; they make democracy hard to sustain.
Voting rights advocates and a slew of organizations working to install the “guardrails of democracy” to prevent future abuse of the kind we saw under Trump have been, to put it mildly, frustrated with Biden’s refusal to declare his intention to fight for a filibuster workaround to pass voting protections. They’re even more aggravated by his apparent aversion to identifying the Republican MAGA cult as the principal threat to democracy.
At Friday’s White House press briefing we got the clearest explanation of why Biden does not talk more about the Republicans’ threat to democracy in an exchange between the White House press secretary Jen Psaki and The Post‘s Annie Linskey:
The reaction to the White House’s justification for avoiding the topic was overwhelmingly negative among those devoted to voting reform and democracy protection. Typical was American Enterprise Institute emeritus scholar Norman Ornstein, who tweeted, “This needs to be an urgent priority for the president. This democracy summit needs to be followed by another focused directly on the clear and present threat to the United States, a threat from within.”
Biden’s willingness to engage on democracy as a matter of foreign policy stands in stark contrast to his aversion to discussing domestic threats. In that regard, several points deserve emphasis.
First, many, many Americans voted for him precisely because they saw Trump’s reelection as a dagger aimed at multiracial democracy based on the rule of law. That group includes many suburban voters, Never Trump Republicans and, of course, Black voters who saw MAGA’s White supremacy and Trump’s praise for police brutality as a direct threat. Wasn’t it Biden who said the election was about the “soul of America”?
Second, the theory that all Biden need do is show democracy can deliver on his domestic agenda is flawed. If Republicans vote-rigging and voter-subversion — not to mention extreme gerrymandering — are not checked it won’t matter how a majority of voters cast their ballots. We are now confronting a deliberate effort to undermine the accuracy and integrity of elections.
Third, even if voters didn’t prioritize democracy protection Biden must do so. That is his job as chief executive. There can be no more vital job post-Trump than repairing our frayed democracy, insuring we do not drift into authoritarianism and holding accountable those who staged and enabled a coup. Presidents don’t get much credit from voters on foreign policy, but the commander in chief still has to devote sufficient time and political capital to national security; the same is true for the security of our democracy.
Finally, if Biden wants to avoid pointing the finger (accurately) at Republicans’ scheme to undermine elections and erode democracy because he want to “lower the temperature” or preserve “bipartisanship,” he is horribly naive. Peeling off Republicans for an infrastructure bill in no way diminishes Republicans’ virulent obstructionism, the nonstop right-wing disinformation campaign (including anti-vaccination propaganda), and the GOP’s adherence to the politics of White nostalgia. Biden will earn no Brownie points with Republicans for his misguided forbearance.
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We can only hope that after his Build Back Better bill passes (if it passes), Biden will feel free to launch a domestic campaign for democracy. He said himself at the Democracy Summit: “As the leaders of governments, we — we have a responsibility to listen to our citizens, to strengthen the guardrails of democracy, and to drive reforms” that will make democracy more resilient against “the buffeting forces of autocracy” and “the naked pursuit of power ahead of the public good.” Biden must pinpoint the source of the threat if he is to have any chance of fulfilling that pledge.
The last time he called out voter suppression as “un-American” was on July 13 in a speech in Philadelphia. Alas, then he was no more specific about who exactly is doing the suppression.
Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.
On Friday’s show, Biden also stated that working across the aisle is difficult these days. “QAnon and the extreme elements of the Republican Party and what, Donald Trump keeps sort of, seems to me feeding the, you know what, the big lie, it makes it awful hard.” It’s not simply that the “big lie” and the conspiracy theories make dealmaking hard, of course; they make democracy hard to sustain.
Voting rights advocates and a slew of organizations working to install the “guardrails of democracy” to prevent future abuse of the kind we saw under Trump have been, to put it mildly, frustrated with Biden’s refusal to declare his intention to fight for a filibuster workaround to pass voting protections. They’re even more aggravated by his apparent aversion to identifying the Republican MAGA cult as the principal threat to democracy.
At Friday’s White House press briefing we got the clearest explanation of why Biden does not talk more about the Republicans’ threat to democracy in an exchange between the White House press secretary Jen Psaki and The Post‘s Annie Linskey:
As a preliminary matter, it is about time the White House got queried about the president’s diffidence. The dearth of questions on this topic heretofore in the White House briefing room tells us much about how unenthusiastic many media outlets are about holding Republicans accountable for the “big lie,” the violent insurrection and their ongoing attempts to undermine elections.
The reaction to the White House’s justification for avoiding the topic was overwhelmingly negative among those devoted to voting reform and democracy protection. Typical was American Enterprise Institute emeritus scholar Norman Ornstein, who tweeted, “This needs to be an urgent priority for the president. This democracy summit needs to be followed by another focused directly on the clear and present threat to the United States, a threat from within.”
Biden’s willingness to engage on democracy as a matter of foreign policy stands in stark contrast to his aversion to discussing domestic threats. In that regard, several points deserve emphasis.
First, many, many Americans voted for him precisely because they saw Trump’s reelection as a dagger aimed at multiracial democracy based on the rule of law. That group includes many suburban voters, Never Trump Republicans and, of course, Black voters who saw MAGA’s White supremacy and Trump’s praise for police brutality as a direct threat. Wasn’t it Biden who said the election was about the “soul of America”?
Second, the theory that all Biden need do is show democracy can deliver on his domestic agenda is flawed. If Republicans vote-rigging and voter-subversion — not to mention extreme gerrymandering — are not checked it won’t matter how a majority of voters cast their ballots. We are now confronting a deliberate effort to undermine the accuracy and integrity of elections.
Third, even if voters didn’t prioritize democracy protection Biden must do so. That is his job as chief executive. There can be no more vital job post-Trump than repairing our frayed democracy, insuring we do not drift into authoritarianism and holding accountable those who staged and enabled a coup. Presidents don’t get much credit from voters on foreign policy, but the commander in chief still has to devote sufficient time and political capital to national security; the same is true for the security of our democracy.
Finally, if Biden wants to avoid pointing the finger (accurately) at Republicans’ scheme to undermine elections and erode democracy because he want to “lower the temperature” or preserve “bipartisanship,” he is horribly naive. Peeling off Republicans for an infrastructure bill in no way diminishes Republicans’ virulent obstructionism, the nonstop right-wing disinformation campaign (including anti-vaccination propaganda), and the GOP’s adherence to the politics of White nostalgia. Biden will earn no Brownie points with Republicans for his misguided forbearance.
ADVERTISING
We can only hope that after his Build Back Better bill passes (if it passes), Biden will feel free to launch a domestic campaign for democracy. He said himself at the Democracy Summit: “As the leaders of governments, we — we have a responsibility to listen to our citizens, to strengthen the guardrails of democracy, and to drive reforms” that will make democracy more resilient against “the buffeting forces of autocracy” and “the naked pursuit of power ahead of the public good.” Biden must pinpoint the source of the threat if he is to have any chance of fulfilling that pledge.
