How Joe Biden went from predicting a Republican ‘epiphany’ to declaring war on the ‘MAGA PARTY’


WASHINGTON — Three years ago, candidate Joe Biden boldly predicted that once he defeated Donald Trump, Republicans would have an “epiphany,” throwing off the shackles of the far right and working cooperatively with Democrats to reach consensus.

“What will fundamentally change with Donald Trump leaving the White House, it’s not a joke, it’s that you will see an epiphany among many of my Republican friends,” Biden said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on May 14, 2019. adding that Republicans were too “intimidated” by Trump to compromise.

This week, President Biden released a new message calling the GOP a “MAGA Party,” linking Republicans to the former president’s controversial brand of politics with an election-year attack designed to energize disillusioned Democrats and persuade independents that the GOP is too radical. to hold power.

“MAGA Republicans: ‘Make America Great Again,’ Republicans,” he said Wednesday at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser, carrying the same message in speeches throughout the week. “They are the most extreme party. And that is what the Republican Party is now… They run the show, the MAGA Republicans.”

Biden’s rhetoric is an attempt to sharpen his case against Republicans ahead of a midterm election in which his party could lose control of the House and Senate. It comes as Trump maintains a firm grip on the GOP, exerting his influence among conservative voters to purge critics of him and using his endorsement in the 2022 primary to exact revenge on those he views as disloyal. .

Some Republicans say Biden is looking for a political strategy.

“The president is desperate,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-Los Angeles. “His numbers in the polls, particularly among independents, are on a journey to the center of the earth. And I think they’re trying to change the narrative.”

But Biden allies say the pessimism of the president, a 45-year Washington veteran who built his political identity on cross-party cooperation and finding common ground, is more of a scathing critique of the opposition.

Biden’s agenda for tackling major economic issues, from rising child care costs and college tuition and prescription drugs, to climate change and access to health care, faces unanimous Republican opposition and has been met. stymied in the Senate 50-50. Her push for voting rights ran headlong into a unified Republican filibuster.

“During his 36 years as a senator, few senators were more committed to bipartisanship, to building real personal relationships, to working across the aisle and former Sen. Biden,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., friend of Biden and a member of the Senate. successor. “For him to say ‘this is a new Republican Party that I’m struggling to find common ground with’ is really an important statement.”

‘MAGA Republicans… Take the fight to them’

A Biden adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss the president’s thinking, stressed to NBC News that he will not give up working with Republicans whenever possible, citing the infrastructure law and the US-China competition package as examples. .

The adviser said Biden’s new message is based on his view that most of the party has taken a sharp turn to the far right, evoking Sen. Rick Scott’s agenda as well as party elites who are waging culture wars. against Disney, seeking to ban books and attempted to ban abortion. The adviser added that Democrats will argue that the GOP is the party of Scott, R-Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida.

As another example of “MAGA” influence, the Biden adviser cited a Republican primary this week in West Virginia, where Rep. Alex Mooney defeated Rep. David McKinley, who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill and was criticized for it.

However, it is not clear that the emphasis on Trump will be enough to save Democrats from big losses in the midterm elections. The former president is out of power and out of the polls; he is banned from Twitter and Facebook. A recent gubernatorial race in Virginia, where Democrats tried unsuccessfully to link Republican Glenn Youngkin to Trump, reveals the limitations of such a strategy.

Biden took direct aim at Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, chairman of the Senate GOP campaign arm, for proposing an “ultra-MAGA” agenda that calls for raising federal income taxes on roughly half of Americans and end all federal laws. in five years, Biden said it was equivalent to eliminating Medicare and Social Security.

“It really is beyond the bounds,” Biden said, adding that while “MAGA Republicans” are about a third of the American electorate, their politicians control the party. “We have to take the fight to them. We have to make our case, and do it very strongly.”

‘Ultra-MAGA’ and proud Republicans

Coons said the president is “just looking at reality.”

“Unfortunately, the political reality is that more and more Republicans at the state and federal level are in the grip of the former president and his views and positions. And I think that can make compromise and consensus more and more difficult,” he said.

And some top Republicans are embracing the Biden label.

“I am ultra-MAGA. I’m proud of that,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., whose loyalty to Trump propelled her into the leadership position of No. 3 House Republican, succeeding Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming.

When asked about Biden’s message, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R.D., said, “It’s an election year.”

“The rhetoric is going to heat up,” he said. “I think he’s trying to take a bad hand and play it to the best of his ability and start countering or attacking. But I don’t think that works collectively. Because we have a lot of people that I don’t think fit that description. But that is certainly an election year strategy.”

And it marks a sharp break with a long-standing approach that drew its own share of criticism within his own party.

In 2019 and 2020, some Democrats criticized Biden’s predictions of a Republican epiphany, accusing him of naivety about the nature of his opposition. One of those critics, progressive strategist Max Berger, said he was pleased to see Biden walk away from that vision, though it would not be an easy transition.

“I think it’s a big step in the right direction, but it’s a tough twist on all his talk of trying to get bipartisanship,” Berger said.



Reference-www.nbcnews.com

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