Photo courtesy of Joe Biden for President
Has this nation ever witnessed a more brazen display of political dishonesty than post-Trump Republicans attempting to portray their party as the protectors of national unity and Joe Biden as a divisive president? Excuse us while we all share a unifying laugh.
Conveniently, that allows Republicans to oppose everything Biden and Democrats do to begin repairing the wreckage from the cascading failures of Donald Trump’s presidency to protect public health in a deadly pandemic and prevent the destruction of the U.S. economy closing down hundreds of thousands of businesses and creating tens of millions of jobless Americans. And if there’s one thing we learned about Republicans during Trump’s presidency, it is that they’re really good at doing nothing to deal with all those national crises.
It’s shamelessly self-serving for Republicans to accuse Biden of violating his campaign promises to bring Americans together and restore national unity simply because they refuse to join the effort. Clearly, they don’t understand the meaning of national unity. Here’s what it doesn’t mean: It doesn’t mean Biden, a Democrat, won’t pursue Democratic policies and roll back the most unpopular, divisive practices of his predecessor, even if Republicans don’t like it.
In fact, that’s exactly what Biden promised to do in his pitch-perfect inaugural address pledging to restore an American democracy in which we treat each other with respect relying on truth instead of lies, because “politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.” Most of us heard that as a positive, upbeat description of everything America should be. Republicans heard it as a divisive attack on everything their party has become. “If you read his speech and listen to it carefully,” Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul complained to Fox News, “much of it is thinly veiled innuendo calling us white supremacists, calling us racists, calling us every name in the book, calling us people who don’t tell the truth.”
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Destructive Lies
Sen. Paul was wrong. Biden wasn’t using any thinly veiled innuendo at all. He was openly denouncing Trump’s explicit, virulent racism and his constant stream of presidential lies, a world record of 30,573 lies documented by Washington Post fact-checkers. That included Trump’s biggest and most destructive lie—that he actually won the presidential election and had his victory stolen from him through election fraud. It led Trump’s supporters to violently attack the U.S. Capitol, temporarily halting certification of Biden’s election on January 6th, the most recent historic day that will live in infamy.
Republicans clearly didn’t understand the most important part of Biden’s speech about how national unity has always gotten America through such national crises. “Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World Wars, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed,” Biden said. “In each of these moments, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. And we can do that now.” The key phrase was “enough of us.”
It’s understandable that Republicans failed to grasp the value of national unity. Trump would have fired any better angels who objected to his offensive rhetoric and divisive policies aimed at keeping Americans at war with one another. That’s what got Trump elected the first time, and he was confident he could keep his supporters angry and hateful enough for it to work again.
That’s why Trump couldn’t believe it when he lost. Even worse in Trump’s view, he lost bigly to a decent guy spouting a lot of namby-pamby Sunday School talk. Most Americans welcomed Biden’s optimism about restoring human decency in national politics: “We can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace—only bitterness and fury. No progress—only exhausting outrage. No nation—only a state of chaos.”
Biden and Democrats knew they couldn’t wait for Republicans to get to work on restoring our democracy. Biden was President Obama’s vice-president when Republicans refused to help rebuild the U.S. economy the last time a Republican president destroyed it. Republicans believe the longer they can keep Americans struggling under Democratic presidents, even after Republican political disasters, the better chance Republicans have of returning to power. When Trump, a truly terrible candidate, was elected to succeed Obama, Republicans saw their lack of patriotism rewarded.
But why do Republicans feel safe from the violent political fringe groups and outright domestic terrorists Trump attracted to their party? Weren’t they calling their loved ones to say goodbye during the Capitol riot just like Democrats were? Do sane Republicans still control their party? How do they know? If President Biden is right that enough of us have always come together as a unified nation to assure the survival of our American democracy, are Republicans sure they’re still part of it?
