Extreme MAGA Extremists
The latest fear-raising fundraising letter from President Biden
I got another fundraising letter from Joe Biden and it’s a doozy. The words “extreme” and “extremist” are used a dozen times to describe MAGA Republicans. Other words used to describe Trump and MAGA include dangerous, threats, vengeance, vindictiveness, trample (“the American way of life as we know it”), and smashed (as in a MAGA movement that allegedly seeks to smash and destroy democracy).
Now, I’m no fan of Trump. He’s a con man, not a public servant, and I won’t vote for him. Even so, this Biden fundraising letter is the equivalent of promising a bloodbath if Trump gets elected again later this year.
I can’t recall a presidential campaign like the Biden/Harris effort. Its message is almost entirely negative. It’s based on fear. Fear of Trump, fear of MAGA, fear of “extremism.” There’s almost no hope and no promise of substantive changes for the better. It’s a singular message: Vote for Joe because Trump and his followers are very very bad.
This latest fundraising letter embraces Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric that Trump’s followers are irredeemable deplorables. It encourages Americans to fear their neighbors if they happen to wear a MAGA cap and support Trump. It stokes division rather than encouraging unity. And I simply don’t think it’s effective politics.
Biden’s message is simple: Vote for me because the other guy is even worse. Now I’m seeing claims from the Democrats that Trump is even more physically enfeebled and mentally confused than Biden.
If Biden loses this November, surely it will be due to a campaign that has no compelling and positive message to motivate and inspire people to vote for him. It’s just not enough, I think, to run on a message of fear.
In my opinion, one of the worst aspects of these fundraising letters is that they drive ordinary people apart. I have Trump-supporting family members--so does my boyfriend. We're not giving them up. We just vote differently. I do think Trump is dangerous, but dividing the American public into the good guys and bad guys is more dangerous in the long run.
It's all the Blue Team has at this point. They have no policies that any people in the US want (except the war profiteers) and so they have to run on fear. It is the primary weapon that wealthy elites use to herd the masses. If you turn on TV news, it is a 24/7 fear fest. The Red Team is the same, they blather 24/7 about immigrant hoards. It is no wonder that the US is falling apart when there is this level of fearmongering and dysfunction.