In his inaugural address, Joe Biden emphasized the unity he had promised as a candidate – to be an antidote to Trump’s alleged toxic executive pugilism and the chaos sown by him over four combative years. Unity was the centerpiece – if not the theme proper – of his first speech as president. These are all direct quotes:
“Unity … Bringing America together … Uniting our people … Uniting our nation … With unity, we can do great things … I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy … History, faith, and reason can show the way – the way of unity … For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness, and fury … Together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division.”
Unfortunately, Biden looks like he over-promised. Or maybe he was whispering sweet nothings in the American ear, only for voters to discover he’s a cad who never intended to make good on his pledge. Either way – a sobering reality has set in after the country tied the knot with career politician Biden. That unity he promised looks like just a mirage, which beckons with the promise of relief, shimmering in the heat, tantalizingly out of reach. But it is not real.
In fact, Biden has quite the track record of being a divider rather than a uniter.
Before the Presidency
In advance of being sworn into the office of the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden referred to 75 million Trump voters as “chumps” and “dregs.” After his inauguration, he characterized the efforts by Texas to move on from the devastations of COVID lockdowns and the inefficacy of masking as “Neanderthal thinking.” These were unkind things to say of fellow Americans.
Before his inauguration, Biden had invoked Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels when he referred to two members of Congress – Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) – who had, he asserted, promoted the “big lie” that the election results were worth contesting. And Biden had previously smeared President Donald Trump with the same incendiary rhetoric, saying “he’s sort of like Goebbels” because if “you say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common knowledge.”
Biden barely waited for the dust to settle before he began divisive rhetoric about the riot of Jan. 6. Even as The New York Times printed verifiable lies about the “murder” of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick at the hands of MAGA rioters, Biden insinuated that the police who responded that day were somehow racist for kid-gloving the protesters – apparently in stark contrast to how officers would have treated them had they been black. Of course, shooting and killing an unarmed woman named Ashli Babbitt, who was crawling through a window, doesn’t seem too lenient. But why obstruct the narrative?
Not very unifying.
Continuing The Legacy
Biden has been passed the torch, continuing the legacy of Barack Obama and other elites who have insulted those saddled with wrong opinions. Obama described Americans with differing viewpoints as “bitter” folks who “cling to guns and religion.” Then Hillary Clinton turned it up to 11 in a memorable speech in which she derided such citizens as “deplorables.” Biden picked up the live firehose of targeted invective snaking around Washington and trained it back on the 75 million Trump voters – where the left apparently believes it belongs.
The Democrats in Congress have taken his lead. They passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package because they could – with no collaboration from their Republican colleagues and more than a modicum of disdain. And they are now paying lackluster lip service at best to the idea of working together on the infrastructure bill, which could start at a whopping $2 trillion.
Not exactly a reach across the aisle.
Polls seem to suggest that most Americans are happy with the president’s performance so far – and maybe they are – but there is much conjecture about the sampling involved and how the questions are asked. Polling is notoriously fickle. Recall that leftist Nate Silver used a precise, highly sophisticated algorithm mere mortals could never understand when he gave Hillary Clinton a 79% chance of beating Trump in 2016. And look how that turned out. Polling can’t be trusted today any more than the guy trying to sell you merchandise out of the back of his truck in the supermarket parking lot.
So after Biden’s first 100 days in office, we don’t really know if a majority of Americans are happy about the president’s efforts at a national “unity.”
Are you feeling united?
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Read more from Pennel Bird.
