President Joe Biden has used the scare tactic regularly in recent months, in different venues – "MAGA Republicans" are a threat to democracy:
Biden: "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic …. There's something else at stake: democracy itself …. The MAGA Republicans don't just threaten our personal rights and economic security, they're a threat to our very democracy."
That was the whole point of his "blood red" speech from Philadelphia last September (pictured above), and he's trotted it out many times since. Talk-show host Jeff Crank says it's nothing more than a political ploy meant to drive voter turnout next year.
"They're gonna roll that out again in 2024 because it worked in 2022," he predicts.
Using Biden's logic, says Crank, it is a threat to democracy to question the results of an election – at least if you're a Republican. Likewise, advocating for election integrity measures and supporting "Orange Man Bad" for president are threats as well.
The Colorado-based broadcaster is confident the American democracy is strong enough to withstand rhetorical or ideological challenges. But as for weaponizing the justice system and the government itself?
"Trying to criminalize your opponents, applying laws – as I think the Department of Justice is doing – [by] selectively prosecuting people based on their political philosophy, using government to censor people on social media," Crank lists. "To me, those are gigantic threats to democracy."
In his most recent column, Washington Time columnist Robert Knight makes a similar argument, writing that Democrats are famous for "accusing others of what they themselves are doing." He cites perhaps the latest example: a Democratic candidate for state office in Virginia lashing out at conservatives for "invading her privacy" by calling to attention her live, online sex acts with her husband to raise money.
