President Joe Biden is so unpopular that candidates in the 2022 midterm elections don’t want him anywhere near them. So former President Barack Obama had to come out of retirement to try to help floundering Democrats.
Last weekend he swooped into Michigan to endorse Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a campaign rally in Detroit. There, he chastised politicians (Republicans, not Democrats) for creating what he called a “dangerous climate” with their “demonizing” rhetoric.
“When we don’t just disagree with people but we start demonizing them, making wild crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate,” Obama said as the crowd applauded.
“And if elected officials don’t do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if they tacitly support it, or encourage their supporters to stand outside voting places armed with guns, dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt,” he said.
As if on cue, someone in the crowd shouted out and Obama saw the opportunity to deliver a lecture.
“You wouldn’t do that at a workplace!” The Chosen One shouted. “You wouldn’t just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation! It’s not how we do things … and this is part of the point I want to make!”
But Obama’s claims of incendiary-free rhetoric runs entirely counter to what Biden says nearly every day about 74 million Americans who supported former President Donald Trump in the last election.
“You need to vote to literally save democracy again,” Biden said at an August rally in Rockville, Maryland. “Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans have made their choice to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division, but we’ve chosen a different path — forward.”
In September, Biden said: “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” he later added. “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of the law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election.”
And just Tuesday, Biden derided Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling him “Trump incarnate.”
In a rare campaign speech, this one for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, Biden likened Republicans to racists and anti-Semites.
“When the folks who are of the ilk that the guy Charlie is running against began to rear their heads en masse, I changed my mind,” Biden said about his decision to drop into Florida in a last-ditch effort to save Crist, who, according to a Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of all polls, is trailing DeSantis by 12.3 points.
“You know, remember what happened down in Virginia, when those folks came out of the fields, carrying torches — and carrying not only torches, but also swastikas? Not a joke. I mean, it’s hard to remember and believe it — as well as making sure that they had white supremacists with them,” Biden said.
“And seeing the same antisemitic chanting, the same antisemitic bile that was chanted in Germany in the ‘30s. And my predecessor was asked, ‘What do you think?” And he said, “There are very good people on both sides.’ And the Republican Party basically remained silent,” Biden said, without elaborating on the rest of what Trump said.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different group of people,” the president said.
Like his former boss, Biden also speaks out of both sides of his mouth — demonizing Republicans while condemning divisive political rhetoric.
In an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” host Scott Pelley said to Biden: “Concerning politics, Mr. President, you were elected to the Senate in 1972. You were 29 years old. And in those days, it seemed that the parties worked together to move the country forward. And I think many Americans feel that that no longer happens, and, in fact, may be impossible now.”
Putting on his most avuncular mask, Biden said: “Well, I don’t think it’s impossible. But it– it– it’s changed. What we do today, think about it, it’s all personal attacks. It’s about motive.”
“It’s not about, ‘I disagree with you on the — on the subject matter. And secondly, I think that — it’s — I think it’s fair to say that we’ve not had a president like the last president, who has made all of it so personal.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.