Last Thursday evening in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, President Biden gave a prime-time address to the nation that was really two speeches in one. First, he tried to address what he termed “assaults on Democracy”, and he generally had my attention and support. Then he moved on to a blatant political speech designed to shore up Democratic election prospects in November (if not his own re-elect), at which point I could no longer watch. If you missed it and would like to watch, here it is:
Since I fell out at about the 18 minute mark, I’ll provide my thoughts on only what he said in that portion. I will use the naval aviation debriefing modality of “Goods” and “Others” in order to protect tender egos.
Goods
It should come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to my writing that I believe Donald Trump was and is a threat to American national security. The threat was obvious in 2016 when I helped co-author this letter, but anyone doubting its sentiments has either been convinced by the Trump’s reckless conduct since November 2020, or is so far gone in their acceptance of his authoritarian and anti-American lies that they cannot be reached. Biden’s speech was generally about these threats, at least the part that I watched. I was GLAD that he called Trump out. I was GLAD that he called out his supporters. I was GLAD that he pointed to the importance of free and fair elections to the proper functioning of our country and the baseless efforts Trump and his goons have made to under-mind them.
His references to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to start the speech out were a great reminder of the majesty of those documents and the importance of ALL OF US in respecting them. Biden’s warning that Trump and his MAGA Republicans “extremism” threatens the foundations of our Republic could not have been more correct.
His strong language with respect to the 1/6 mob and its presidentially summoned insurrection attempt was spot on.
His carefully worded distinction between Republicans and “MAGA Republicans” (whom he was excoriating) was appreciated, but he seriously undercut this point with other rhetoric (covered in “Others”). His citation of “anger, chaos, and lies” vis-a-vis the MAGA Republicans was superb.
His words against violence as a political tool were welcome and important.
Others
This man is OLD, and virtually every public appearance I see of his reinforces in me the sense that he has lost many steps and is unlikely to be up to a second term, if he is even up to the remainder of this one.
He sounds unhealthy.
Why does he yell at me? Why can he not give a speech and then use his voice to emphasize portions of it that deserve emphasis. He sounds like a Simpson’s character.
I despise the presence of the Marines as props in the background, and as the speech turned from sorta political to nakedly political, my temper grew accordingly. I hope the Commandant of the Marine Corps was similarly angered and told someone about it. I’ve seen plenty of shots of Trump with Marines as props in classic attempts at “whattaboutism”, but it was wrong with him too.
Early on, the President told us that “…equality and democracy are under assault…” I believe that Trump and his gang are indeed assaulting democracy, but the suggestion that equality is under assault is ridiculous.
Biden extols a nation that “…honors our Constitution…” even as he acts to undercut the judiciary in his criticism of recent SCOTUS decisions while lawlessly seeking to wipe out student loan debt without the authority to do so.
His (warranted, fair, excellent) excoriation of the extremism of the MAGA GOP rings very, very hollow when one considers the $40M spent BY Democratic PACS and party apparatuses ON MAGA candidates in Republican primaries. If they are a threat to Democracy, you don’t give them money.
He said “for a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed”. Who has told ourselves this? Hell, Ben Franklin and Abe Lincoln made it very, very clear that it was far from guaranteed.
My most important objection to the speech (as I alluded to above) was in the games he played with the distinctions between “MAGA Republicans” and mainstream Republicans. This is a critical distinction, in that all Republicans are not part of the Trumpenproletariat. But when Biden accuses the MAGA Republicans of wanting to “…take our country backwards…” and then follows it up with evidence of their perfidy, he does so by citing their desire to take us back to a country where there is:
No right to choose
No right to privacy
No right to contraception
No right to marry who you love.
This is where he picked a fight with me, someone who is not a Republican at all, let alone a MAGA Republican. What he has done here is purposely combine the Dobbs decision and Justice Thomas’ dissent with MAGA extremism. Put aside for a moment the overwhelming support in the United States for a 1) right to privacy 2) and a right to contraception and consider that there remains widespread objection to gay marriage and incredibly divided views on abortion. The point of both Dobbs and Thomas’ objection (encompassing privacy, contraception, and marriage) is NOT that these aren’t popular things, only that there is no right to them enshrined in the Constitution. It does not mean that the states cannot make them rights. It does not mean that the Constitution cannot be amended to encompass these desires as rights. It does not mean that the Congress may not legislate in these areas. Only that they are not Constitutionally protected rights. This is hardly the stuff of 1/6 insurrection, or political violence, or election denial, and to ascribe principled objections on Constitutional grounds to the extremism of the MAGA GOP is execrable.
One remaining point must be made, and that is even the President’s distinction between the MAGA GOP and the Mainstream GOP strains credulity when one finds that the GOP National Committee pays Trump’s legal bills, and that Trump’s hold on the entire party (by his control of the extremes) renders party leaders feckless to move the party beyond his influence. While I know that there are principled Republicans who object to Trump and his impact, they are not in charge. It is Trump’s Party.
Sailing in Maine
Dear friends Carey and Chris had us on their sailboat last week off the coast of Maine for a few days that included sailing, hiking, biking, eating, and drinking. I’ve not spent much time in Maine, outside of breaking two ribs playing rugby in 1993, and all I can say was…beautiful. It is the end of the season there, but the little ports were still quite crowded even if things got a little nippy at night. I remain utterly clueless, helpless, and hapless on sailboats, though I am happy to act as a passenger on them. There is far too much going on, what with all those sails and sheets and hauls and stuff. If God had wanted us to sail he would not have killed the dinosaurs for us.
UVA Football: Hope Springs Eternal
For nearly twenty years I have had UVA Football season tickets with two of my dearest friends in the world, Rob and Tom. The games are part of elaborate social rituals, with Rob and myself meeting several hours before the game for a pregame meal (usually at The Virginian, yesterday at The White Spot as the Virginian opened too late to accommodate our plans), then making our way to the game via a number of well-provisioned tailgates (The Pitchers, Wask, and Sweeney when he shows). Tom usually shows up sometime in the first quarter (clocks and schedules having fallen into disfavor in his house I suppose), usually with one or two members of his family. Sometimes I had to Rob’s house in Richmond after the game to bunk overnight, but yesterday’s 1230 kickoff enabled a there and back in the same day trip. Good news was I got to sleep in my own bed last night. Bad news is I was exhausted.
Virginia has a new coach this year, a development that has caused me to be tepid in my expectations. I have nothing against the coach, I just need to see some results before I start claiming bowls and championships, a sense of restraint not shared by many of my Wahoo social media follows. I listened to a UVA podcast yesterday in which one guy predicted seven victories and one guy predicted “nine or ten”. You’ll have to take my word for it, but I predicted yesterday’s victory over Richmond (not a stretch). Here’s how I see the season going:
Richmond (W)
at Illinois (L)
Old Dominion (W)
at Syracuse (L)
at Duke (W)
Louisville (W)
at Ga Tech (W)
Miami (L)
UNC (W)
Pittsburgh (L)
Coastal Carolina (W)
at Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University (L)
Of interest—the Coastal Carolina game could EASILY be a loss, as could the Old Dominion game. Bottom line is I think we’ll do fine, but we’re one O-Line injury away from a three win season.
Yeah POTUS gets things wrong, but in 2016 some idiot said that a Republican advocating that our allies stepping up to relieve the US on the costs of the allies defense was akin to a "racketeer", and other nonsensical bullshit.
Oh that was you?!?
Well at least you seem to realize how wrong you were.