🇺🇸 Joe’s Foes

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📉 Biden Job Approval: Approve 44, Disapprove 54 (Rasmussen Reports)

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🐘 2022 Generic Congress Vote: Republicans 47, Democrats 41 (Trafalgar Group)

🐎 2022 Generic Congress Vote: Republicans 44, Democrats 47 (Wall Street Journal)

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Right: Gov. Hochul declares 'theory' of ‘good guy with a gun’ stopping armed 'bad guys' is over (Fox News)

Right: ‘A Scam’: GOP Senator Blasts Ranked-Choice Voting After Alaska Democrat Wins House Seat (Daily Wire)

Right: New York's 'sensitive location' gun ban goes into effect, but judge flags 'unconstitutional statute' (The Blaze)

Left: What the perfect storm of challenges teachers face reveals about inequality (CNN)

Left: Trump’s Social Media Business Is a Mess (Mother Jones)

Left: It’s Not Just Abortion Rights. Michigan Republicans Are Undermining Democracy. (Slate)

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Delayed Decision, Jan. 6 Sentences and Pardons, Brady's Marital Woes

US: Trump FBI raid: Judge delays ruling on ‘special master’ after key hearing (Fox News)

US: Ex-NYPD cop who assaulted D.C. officer on Jan. 6 gets record-setting 10-year sentence (NBC) + Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected (WaPo)

Sports: Trouble in paradise: Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen in epic fight (Page Six)

US: Rob Schneider Says 'SNL' Was 'Over' After This Kate McKinnon Moment (HuffPo)

World: Putin denies Gorbachev a state funeral and will stay away (Reuters)

World: 'Outbursts' from Pakistan's melting glaciers have tripled this year and are worsening floods (CNN)

Tech: The next USB standard will double existing speeds even with an older cable (Engadget)

Business: Tech's newest giant is also an outcast (Axios)

Tech: Twitter readies edit feature for premium users (AP)

Sports: Anett Kontaveit Instagram Post Goes Viral After Loss to Serena Williams (SI)

Business: New Starbucks CEO has exactly the kind of consumer experience the coffee chain needs (CNBC)

POLITICS

Joe's Foes

Last night President Joe Biden delivered a speech in primetime in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. He said Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent "an extremism," adding it threatens the foundation of the republic.

Reporting From the Left: Biden warns Trump and his closest followers are trying to undermine American democracy in combative speech (CNN)

Reporting from the Right: Biden Slammed Across Political Spectrum For Optics Of Divisive Speech: ‘Satanic Ghoul’ (Daily Wire)

From The Flag: Biden had foreshadowed these comments earlier this week when he described the MAGA-wing of the Republican party as similar to “semi-fascism.” Here’s commentary from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Biden Lashes Out at Half of America Because He’s Holding a Losing Hand

• Biden’s rhetoric is actually quite dangerous because once you demonize the opposition they become targets of violence and harassment.

• This is a clear attempt by Biden to frame politics as a battle between “good and evil,” rather than a referendum on issues and policies.

• By smearing tens of millions of voters as “semi-fascists,” Biden has borrowed a page from ANTIFA’s handbook.

“Biden, Democrat attacks on average people are dangerous & need to stop” David Marcus, Fox News Opinion: “There has always been an unwritten rule in American politics that you can attack your opponent with everything you got, but you don’t attack their voters. … Joe Biden called the MAGA philosophy of Trump supporters, ‘semi-fascist.’ This is all extremely dangerous and it needs to stop. Let's be clear, Biden did not call Trump a semi-fascist, he said it about the ‘MAGA philosophy’ embraced by Trump’s voters. Fascism is a particularly dehumanizing accusation. … A blow against an individual fascist is a blow against fascism itself. That is to say, once you identify someone as a fascist, they are as good a target for harassment or violence as any other person who shares their beliefs. Not only is harassing Justice Brett Kavanaugh, or swatting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene acceptable, so are attacks on your neighbor with the Trump flag on his truck.”

“Joe Biden’s ‘semi-fascism’ comments are shameful” Tim Black, Spiked: “So, President Biden has finally dropped the f-bomb. In many ways, it is surprising it has taken him so long. After all, assorted Democrats, countless commentators and an army of hackademics have been shrilly denouncing Donald Trump and his supporters as ‘fascist’ for the best part of six years. … It is blindingly obvious what he is doing here. He is trying to position the Democrats as all that stands between America and fascism. A tactic that turns voting in the Midterms from an important but mundane political act into a hyper-moralised choice between Good and Evil, between liberal democracy and fascist tyranny. It is almost enough to make one forget that there are actual issues at stake. Which is partly the point. Dismissing the challenge to the Democrats as fascist, or even just semi-fascist, removes the need for Biden and Co to defend their actual policies, not to mention the incumbent president’s wretched record in office.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Joe Biden’s Antifa Politics Kyle Shideler, American Greatness

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Don’t Get Distracted From the Issues, Even Though Biden Is Spot On

• There’s some risk in Biden’s strategy because he originally campaigned as someone who could unite the country, plus issues like inflation are still at the forefront of the upcoming midterms.

• Biden stands to benefit politically by being brutally honest about what the opposition represents.

• Republicans outraged at the term “fascism” are just mad at people who speak the truth.

“Biden launches round two against Trump in bid to save Democrats in November” Stephen Collinson, CNN: “In some ways, Biden’s strategy is a high-risk one – though given his overall political struggles over the last year, it may be one of his only options. … Biden is in danger of being seen as branding all Republican voters as extremists dedicated to ‘semi-fascism’ … The President’s fierce rhetorical offensive could also destroy his reputation for moderation and his previous calls for unity, which were attractive to some voters in 2020. And the basic dynamics of the election may be different in the country than they appear from Washington. … Mar-a-Lago has returned Trump to the headlines. But the fact that millions of Americans are paying far more for groceries than they were a year ago hasn’t changed. Nor has the reality that after an exhausting pandemic and years of political discord, majorities of voters tell pollsters they believe the nation is on the wrong track.”

“Biden's brutal honesty is a boon for his administration” Ja'han Jones, MSNBC: “In the past week, we’ve seen President Joe Biden and his administration officials challenging right-wing lawmakers and their talking points with a little bit of an edge, and it’s great to see. Coinciding with a string of Democratic victories on climate and health care, and following this week’s historic student loan forgiveness announcement, Biden and company’s brutal honesty seems to be injecting new vigor into the Democratic base. … ‘What we’re seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,’ Biden said. ‘It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.’ We don’t often hear him use the word ‘fascism,’ much less in reference to Americans. But he’s absolutely right. Republicans are a semi-fascist party — if not worse.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Maybe US mainstream media should begin using the term ‘fascism’ Robert Reich, The Guardian Opinion

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Both Sides Agree That Democracy Is in Peril

A recent poll indicated a complete agreement between Democrats and Republicans. Both sides of the partisan divide feel that “the nation's democracy is in danger of collapse.” An equal number of Democrats (69%) and Republicans (69%) agreed with that statement (Quinnipiac).

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