It increasingly appears to be the case that some MAGA Republicans desire to replace American democracy with autocracy. President Joe Biden’s “Soul of America” speech forcefully called them out. Those individuals notwithstanding, around the rest of the MAGA world and in many other Republican circles, reactions to Biden’s speech have been predictably angry. These responses hinder if not shut down the serious bipartisan discussion about the future of democracy Biden was inviting Americans to join.
While some political commentators hoped Biden would approach the rising crisis in a less assertive way, he did take great pains to differentiate Republicans in general from the extremist MAGA crowd. Still, mainstream Republicans claim they heard Biden indict all Republicans. They know Biden wasn’t targeting establishment Republicans, and their umbrage is mostly fake. They made a calculated but dangerous political decision: By expressing faux disdain about Biden’s speech, these Republicans believe they can maintain their standing with their MAGA base even though, in private, most of them reject autocracy while recognizing the dangers of the anti-democratic forces Biden decried.
These Republicans’ outrage was partisan in nature and, in terms of protecting democracy, unhelpful.
