On September 1st, President Biden gave a passionate speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, where he expressed his concern over the increasing dominance of Donald Trump’s MAGA wing over the Republican party.
He made sure to emphasise, “not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.” The MAGA Republicans, in his view, “…do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.”
There was plenty about this speech for conservatives to criticise, including the triumphant manner in which the President discussed his inflation-accelerating policies. Instead of bringing up these points, however, or even just challenging the claims President Biden made about them, MAGA Republicans focused on the aesthetics of the speech, criticising the red lighting surrounding the President.
The day after the speech Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her belief that California wildfires are caused by space lasers controlled by Jews, tweeted: “They chose this imagery. It’s unreal. Joe Biden is Hitler. #NaziJoe has to go.” Former President Trump lashed out at Biden’s criticism of his assault on democracy, calling the speech “the most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president,” before calling the President an enemy of the state.
This was all at a rally which took place only weeks after highly classified documents were seized from the former President’s home by the FBI. These types of vitriolic, baseless attacks on a politician who, let’s be honest, takes a left-of-centre viewpoint, demonstrate how far the Republican party has fallen from a time when it represented a rational, level-headed, compromise-friendly approach to politics.
The GOP is losing its identity as the party of Lincoln or the party of Reagan and is quickly becoming the party of Trump and all of the poor policy decisions, criminal behaviours, and illiberal tendencies he represents. The party of fiscal responsibility has become the party of $7.8 trillion in debt growth. The party of free trade has become the party of disastrous trade wars. The party of law and order has become the party that has formed a cult of personality around a man actively under investigation by four distinct law enforcement entities.
The dubious nature of former President Trump’s conservatism – and that of his lackeys – is only part of the active descent of the GOP from a liberty-oriented organization to one that actively shuns the ideals of liberal democracy. One example was of course the January 6th insurrection, which was very clearly a malicious attempt to subvert the American political process. It seemed clear that what happened on that day was instigated by those at the highest levels of the Trump administration (the top brass of the MAGA movement). A tweet by Trump saying “big protest in D.C. on January 6th…Be there, will be wild!” provoked a crowd who attempted to warp a ceremonial event, and used the threat of violence to pressure members of Congress to illegally change the results of a free and fair election.
Since Trump’s malicious attempts to undermine democratic principles, MAGA acolytes across the country have been preparing instruments to undermine and sow seeds of doubt about future election results, potentially ending the American tradition of peaceful power transitions that dates back to Washington.
It’s time for conservative members of the GOP to have a serious look in the mirror and ask themselves whether the dominant MAGA wing of the party is really taking the country in a direction they can be proud of; in a way that has earned their vote.
President Biden’s warnings are indeed politically motivated, but they also ring true – this is a movement distinct from mainstream Republicanism that threatens the democratic, free market, and legal institutions of the United States on a fundamental level. A MAGA Congress or a second Trump presidency could spell disaster for the American system of government – and for the future of the conservative movement.
