Biden takes gloves off with blistering attack on Donald Trump

[Muse]

This article was just posted (about an hour ago) on the front page of The New York Times. I'm posting a link here that will get you beyond the paywall for the next 14 days, i.e. until Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Biden really went after him. This is quite a departure from the tactics Biden has been using until now. This has meat on the bone:

Biden Issues a Blistering Attack on Trump (Published 2023)

During an appearance in Arizona, President Biden portrayed former President Donald J. Trump as a budding autocrat with no fidelity to the tenets of American democracy.

www.nytimes.com

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework. More about Peter Baker


By Peter Baker
Reporting from Tempe, Ariz.
Sept. 28, 2023Updated 5:35 p.m. ET
President Biden issued a broad and blistering attack against former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday, accusing his predecessor and would-be successor of inciting violence, seeking unfettered power and plotting to undermine the Constitution if he returns to office in next year’s elections.

In his most direct condemnation of his leading Republican challenger in many months, Mr. Biden portrayed Mr. Trump as a budding autocrat with no fidelity to the tenets of American democracy and who is motivated by hatred and a desire for retribution. While he usually avoids referring to Mr. Trump by name, Mr. Biden this time held nothing back as he offered a dire warning about the consequences of a new Trump term.

“This is a dangerous notion, this president is above the law, no limits on power,” Mr. Biden said in a speech in Tempe, Ariz. “Trump says the Constitution gave him, quote, the right to do whatever he wants as president, end of quote. I never heard a president say that in jest. Not guided by the Constitution or by common service and decency toward our fellow Americans but by vengeance and vindictiveness.”

Mr. Biden cited recent comments by Mr. Trump vowing “retribution” against his foes, accusing NBC News of "treason” and suggesting that the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, might deserve to be put to death. The president also decried plans being developed by Mr. Trump’s allies to erode the independence of major agencies, wipe out much of the top ranks of civil service and make senior government officials personally loyal to him.

“Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, purging and packing key institutions, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide America in every way, inciting violence against those who risk their lives to keep Americans safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as Americans,” Mr. Biden said. “This MAGA threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions. It’s also a threat to the character of our nation.”

The gloves-off assault on Mr. Trump represented a marked shift for Mr. Biden, who has spent months mostly talking up the benefits of his policies while ignoring the race to choose a Republican nominee to challenge him. But repeated speeches claiming credit for “Bidenomics” have not moved his anemic approval ratings, as many voters tell pollsters they worry about the 80-year-old president’s age.

-SNIP- [Hit link above to read the entire article. It gets you past the paywall for the next 14 days, i.e. until Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023]

 

[nickqt]

Biden's approval rating stays the same or drops half a point. Trump's approval rating stays the same or goes up half a point.

None of it matters except voter turnout.

 

[Muse]

Biden's approval rating stays the same or drops half a point. Trump's approval rating stays the same or goes up half a point.

None of it matters except voter turnout.

Have no worries, I'm voting for Biden. But what happens before the election does affect what happens on and after election day. And you do not know what will happen with the "approval ratings." Not all undecided voters are as thick headed as you think.

 

[nickqt]

Have no worries, I'm voting for Biden. But what happens before the election does affect what happens on and after election day. And you do not know what will happen with the "approval ratings." Not all undecided voters are as thick headed as you think.

Not only do I not know what will happen with the approval ratings, the approval ratings are 100% irrelevant.

The only thing that matters, as I've said, is voter turnout.

 

[Moonbeam]

Not only do I not know what will happen with the approval ratings, the approval ratings are 100% irrelevant.

The only thing that matters, as I've said, is voter turnout.

In my opinion the Mega Republicans represent a clear and present threat to the American democratic system, something, in my opinion again, is treason. In such a case, where the threat is clear and present and imminent, as soon as the next election, it is the right and the duty of the government, I would think, to defend itself. The act of treason against the United States, deserves to be put down my a declaration of martial law and the arrest and military trial as enemy combatants. This should happen in Guantanamo Bay before it happens to the average citizen of the US.

 

[Jaskalas]

I understand better than most, @Moonbeam about the Democrat rallying cry of "Republicans are ending the country, so we need to end the country!"
First strikes are often a paradox of who to blame. Everyone has their reasons.
But is it a good reason? What aught is there to do?

Following 2016, I deeply underestimated MAGA. I did not realize their cry of "fake news" would immediately lead to "fake elections" and legitimate attempts to overthrow Democracy.
I lashed out at Democrats who did not want peace and calm. I cautioned them to find a better way. You appear to still be doing that now, unless I am mistaken of your intent.

Knowing what I do today, this isn't going to get better. A delaying tactic is not going to see hostile actors pacified.
Truly, the only hesitation in acting on what you said, is also in knowing how many lives our actions would end.
We hesitate now because we know how horrific it will be. Because Russia needs to be put down first, before America follows in their footsteps.

When madness takes our people, can we truly say whether there is a right or wrong answer to it all? One of the major follies, will be thinking we have a say in the matter. That we can reclaim or retain power once the nation violently shatters. Second folly would be thinking anyone would be left to save. Imagining all that, does it truly matter if Democrats shot first? Because at this point, Republicans want to die in a blaze of glory and take us all with them. Who are we to argue when we have no means to alter their desired outcome?

 

[Moonbeam]

I understand better than most, @Moonbeam about the Democrat rallying cry of "Republicans are ending the country, so we need to end the country!"
First strikes are often a paradox of who to blame. Everyone has their reasons.
But is it a good reason? What aught is there to do?

Following 2016, I deeply underestimated MAGA. I did not realize their cry of "fake news" would immediately lead to "fake elections" and legitimate attempts to overthrow Democracy.
I lashed out at Democrats who did not want peace and calm. I cautioned them to find a better way. You appear to still be doing that now, unless I am mistaken of your intent.

Knowing what I do today, this isn't going to get better. A delaying tactic is not going to see hostile actors pacified.
Truly, the only hesitation in acting on what you said, is also in knowing how many lives our actions would end.
We hesitate now because we know how horrific it will be. Because Russia needs to be put down first, before America follows in their footsteps.

When madness takes our people, can we truly say whether there is a right or wrong answer to it all? One of the major follies, will be thinking we have a say in the matter. That we can reclaim or retain power once the nation violently shatters. Second folly would be thinking anyone would be left to save. Imagining all that, does it truly matter if Democrats shot first? Because at this point, Republicans want to die in a blaze of glory and take us all with them. Who are we to argue when we have no means to alter their desired outcome?

As I see it democratic government is better than a fascist state. Those who believe to the contrary will use the freedoms a democratic form of government, the liberty it affords to destroy it for their ends. The one thing that a liberal stystem of democracy can’t abide and survive is to play by rules outside that system. For liberal democracy to survive requires that everyone plays by its rules such that any who break that vital compact sacrifice it’s liberal protections.

Authoritarianism is like a cancer. Cancerous cells must not be allowed to multiply. Right and wrong, therefore, simply refer to whether someone is or is not abiding by the rules of the system. It isn’t morally complicated, seems to me. It’s just common sense self defense. Don’t want to play by the rules, you must not be allowed to play. Megas are dangerous traitors. One can be completely insane, no problem, unless you try to act out. Spoiled children can’t be allowed to run the affairs of the family.

The system only works if people are

 

[darkswordsman17]

I guess I'm not seeing the change. He's condemned Turmp multiple times already, and always because of whatever horrible fucked up shit Turmp says.

Meanwhile Jackasslass muffles out something about how both sides or actually see liberals are worse and about to murder everyone between his slobs of Turmp's dick because somehow people calling out authoritarian lunatics is worse than the actual authoritarian lunatics. But then he's the type that would deny the concentration camps existed even after they marched his ass through them. "No, no, this was liberals, see it says socialism right in the name!"

 

[fskimospy]

Not only do I not know what will happen with the approval ratings, the approval ratings are 100% irrelevant.

The only thing that matters, as I've said, is voter turnout.

This is definitely not true - Trump operated under this assumption in 2020 and look what it got him.

 

[Muse]

Let's put it this way:

46 >> [2 impeachments + 92 felony indictments dragging...]--45