Fascism is anything Democrats don't like | Washington Examiner
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
One would think the Democrats might have learned from Hillary Clinton's 2016 mistake and avoided insulting half the voters they're supposed to win over as stupid, undemocratic buffoons. But that would require them to first stop thinking of half the electorate as morons who have a soft spot for totalitarianism — which is, apparently, too much to ask.
President Joe Biden (good ole' Uncle Joe, remember him? The guy who promised to restore civility and decency and normalcy to the Oval Office?) wants you to know you're a "semi-fascist" if you voted for former President Donald Trump instead of him.
It's not clear whether Biden actually knows what fascism is since, these days, he can't be relied upon to know whose hand he shook within a two-minute time frame. But this is the definition he's running with: "What we're seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy," he said on Thursday. "It's not just Trump; it's the entire philosophy that underpins the — I'm going to say something, it's like semi-fascism."
"I respect conservative Republicans," Biden added. "I don't respect these MAGA Republicans."
When asked to explain what Biden meant by "semi-fascism," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went a step further and attributed the label to the entire Republican Party.
"So what we're seeing from Republicans, and what we have seen from Republicans these past several years is that they are attacking our democracy," she told CNN. "They are taking away our freedom. And they are trying to put on the chopping blocks Medicare and Social Security. That's what we are seeing … and that is what we are trying to prevent."
There's no question both sides of the political aisle are drawn to hyperbole and exaggerations, but this is ridiculous. Though fascism itself is a term that has been debated ever since Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler rose to power, it is easy to say what fascism is not: It is not an ideology that advocates robust free speech and religious rights for all people, which conservatism does. It is not a political party that supports giving voters the power to decide abortion restrictions in their states, which the GOP does. It is not a movement that opposes draconian uses of federal power, such as sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandates and costly student loan debt forgiveness, which conservatism does. And it is definitely not a political party that protests the weaponization of key institutions like Big Tech and the FBI against political dissidents, which the Republican Party does.
As George Orwell put it, "the word fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies 'something not desirable.'" For Democrats, fascism simply means anything they don't like, and anything that might possibly threaten their control over the governing establishment. Fascism is Donald Trump. Fascism is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Fascism is the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Fascism is religious people running their businesses according to their beliefs. And now fascism is the Republican Party and everyone who votes for it.
It's impossible to know who Biden thinks he's going to win over with this position — besides maybe the talking heads at MSNBC who pull a Jeffrey Toobin every time the words "Trump" and "fascism" appear in the same sentence.
It seems more likely that Biden has decided he has nothing left to lose. Biden has now become the most unpopular president in modern history, and everyone knows he's not running again in 2024, no matter what the White House says. We're only two years into his presidency, and even a majority in his own party thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction. Biden is tired of being president, but he's even more tired of the people who don't want him to be president. They are, after all, "semi-fascists" whose views don't deserve the slightest bit of consideration.
