A little over four years ago, Democrats were desperately searching for a presidential candidate other than “Bernie” or “Elizabeth,” and turned to their trusty “Amtrak Joe” to fill the role, with the mission to “save” the country from President Donald Trump and his supposedly dangerous “MAGA” Republican base (which numbered about 73 million people).
Party elders (rightly) saw the thrice-vetted presidential candidate, the archetype of a safe candidate for Eastern liberals, as the only Democrat who wouldn't terrorize Midwesterners. Biden's His gentlemanly style and grandfatherly attitude are a bit pretentious. Queens Developers He likes to tweet nasty things.
The effective and much-used moniker has been a “return to normalcy” in Washington, DC, where normal, familiar order will be restored after four years of Trump-induced chaos. Establishments in both parties and their mouthpieces, the legacy media, felt relieved after Biden pulled off a COVID-induced mail-in ballot initiative.Basement Strategy” and after a close battle the winner was announced.
Four years later, the Biden-Harris administration has told a similar story, but added a not-so-subtle subtitle: “Protecting DemocracyThis is a reference to so-called “dictator” Trump, the events of January 6, 2021, and the so-called racist and nationalistic tendencies of the MAGA movement.
But the assumptions for 2020 are quite different from those for 2024.
The first, of course, concerns the false advertising that accompanied Biden-Harris around 2020. Indeed, immediately after the election, reliable old liberals team Trump has eagerly and unapologetically traded his non-threatening record for the ways and means of the woke progressivism that has recently swept through the Democratic Party, where long-established positions on law and order like border security, free speech, parental rights and energy independence have been readily discarded.
These policy changes were accompanied by a visible physical and mental decline that only worsened over the next four years, so few will be surprised by polling results showing that a majority of Americans do not see a Biden-Harris administration as a “return to normalcy.”
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris walk down the runway after welcoming three released prisoners, Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Arus Kurmasheva, upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
But false advertising charges are not the only cause of the Democratic Party's current turmoil.
The other, more serious factor here is the left's inaccurate interpretation of now-presumptive nominee Harris' favorite slogan: “Protecting our democracy.” (Related: Black Lives Matter demands DNC hold immediate primary to protest Kamala Harris' “appointment”)
At least half of the population does not believe that the relentless persecution and Stalinist treatment of the opposition presidential candidate is consistent with the rule of law. Similarly, those same thoughtless actors reject the left's attacks on traditional American values (rule of law, voting integrity, judicial independence, freedom of speech), particularly the attempt to label photo ID requirements at polling stations as “racist.” Millions of illegal immigrants Those who have come to the country are particularly wealthy.
In short, MAGA and other Trump supporters don’t understand how the constant disdain for their politics and values by the traditional media (who have not required Harris to answer media questions since her coronation) and Democratic Party leadership helps strengthen our country and culture.
After all, a regime that chooses its presidential and vice presidential candidates without ever voting in a primary election, while attempting to denounce (bankrupt, cancel, impeach, arrest, convict, silence) the opposition candidate, is unlikely to be questioned when it comes to the notion of protecting “democracy.”
Bob Ehrlich is a former Governor, Congressman, and State Representative of Maryland. He is the author of five books on American politics and opinion pieces that have appeared in major American newspapers and periodicals. He and his wife, Kendel, host a weekly podcast, “Bottom Line with Bob & Kendel Ehrlich.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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