American Extremists
By: John Semmens
This week, President Biden denounced Trump supporters as “the worst extremists in our country's history.” Inasmuch as the Klu Klux Klan terrorized blacks for decades—murdering and lynching them—and Antifa has been instigating riots that have caused billions of dollars in damage and dozens of deaths of innocent bystanders over the last few years, Biden's judgment raised some eyebrows.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained the President's thoughts on the topic, emphasizing that “scope of impact is an important determinant. While no specific deaths or destruction can be clearly attributed to Trump supporters as a group, they were able to seize control the US government in the 2016 election. This is something that neither the Klan nor Antifa has ever accomplished. By this measure alone, the MAGA crowd is the bigger threat to American democracy.”
The President himself augmented Psaki's remarks by reminding that “some Klan members like former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) were respected leaders of the Democratic Party who made significant contributions to major legislation. So, being in the Klan by itself shouldn't be considered totally bad. And Antifa, despite its violent methods is solidly on the progressive side of today's ideological spectrum. This is the right side of history. So, I cut them some slack for occasional excess exuberance.”
A recent Rasmussen poll, however, suggests that Trump supporters are closer to the “mainstream” than Biden imagines. In a hypothetical Biden/Trump 2024 election match-up, voters opt for Trump by a 50% to 36% margin over Biden. According to Biden, “these results are misleading because in a true democracy anti-democratic opinions carry no weight. When the actual ballots are counted in 2024 I will come out ahead just as I did in 2020.”
In related news, Democratic strategist James Carville lamented that “the 50-36 split just shows that the average voter doesn't understand how good the economy is under Biden. From a personal perspective, soaring prices, supply shortages, and lagging paychecks make it difficult for the average person to see how the economy is benefiting from the President's policies. For example, American pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are seeing record profits from the manufacture and sale of covid vaccines. This wouldn't have been possible without the mandates and subsidies the President rammed through. Likewise, solar-panel manufacturers and wind-turbine businesses are doing great. If voters would stop selfishly thinking of themselves they'd realize how much the Democrats have done for the most important segments of the economy.”
