Pity the poor, wounded MAGA Republicans
Over the past few days, it’s safe to say we’ve all shed a tear or two, maybe even said a prayer, and quietly reflected on the tremendous loss the world collectively experienced last week. For many, that’s because of the historic and solemn events unfolding in the United Kingdom.
But I’m not talking about the death of Queen Elizabeth II at age 96. I’m talking about the grief and trauma many in MAGA world are apparently experiencing, inflicted by President Joe Biden and his very mean speech earlier this month.
To listen to them bravely share their stories of pain and suffering is to truly break one’s heart. Before you keep reading, you might want to grab a tissue.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the gentle lady from Colorado who once suggested a Muslim Democratic congresswoman was probably a terrorist, called Biden’s remarks about MAGA Republicans “disgusting and decisive [sic].” That was just before she accused him of having “cognitive failure.” As my therapist says, hurt people hurt people.
Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy seemed utterly devastated when he lamented that Biden had “chosen to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans. Why? Simply because they disagree with his policies.”
Yeah, what kind of monster would do such a thing? Like, what president would tell fellow Americans who disagreed with his policies — say, four elected women of color — to “go back” to their home countries?
What leader of the Free World would call the Americans who fought our wars “losers” and “suckers”? That would be unforgivable.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was also personally afflicted by Biden’s comments, calling him “the most condescending president of my lifetime.”
Indeed. But could you imagine if Biden had said — of his own supporters — that, I don’t know, he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” and they’d still vote for him? I mean, no politician would think that little of his or her base.
As for Mike Pence, the former vice president who insists he and Donald Trump parted amicably despite a mob of Trump supporters calling for his death by hanging, he’s appalled by Biden’s reference to “semifascism.”
“Never before in the history of our nation has a president stood before the American people and accused millions of his own countrymen of being a ‘threat to this country.’”
Never — because what kind of president would call millions of his own countrymen fascists?
What kind of leader would call the free press, a sitting president and a secretary of state “the enemy?”
Who would call police officers who defended the Capitol against a violent mob of insurrectionists “p-----s?”
Who would call members of the opposing political party “un-American” and “treasonous” simply because they didn’t clap for you? It’s unheard of.
Finally, the folks at Fox News are also bummed at Biden. Jesse Watters, a reliably sensitive host who once urged young conservatives to “ambush” Anthony Fauci and then “go in for the kill shot,” complained Biden has waged a “war on terror” against him and other MAGA Republicans.
Harris Faulkner also wondered aloud, “Do we really, really love the citizens of this great nation? We have a president who hates at least half of them.”
These are the aching words of the downtrodden, mistreated and tortured souls of Trump’s MAGA army. How they survive in these unlivable conditions, under this kind of oppression, is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps, and I’m just spitballing, Biden’s words — that Trump and MAGA Republicans “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic” — are cutting so deep because they are irrefutably true.
Storming the Capitol to overturn a democratic election is extreme and threatens the very foundations of our republic.
Nominating self-avowed election deniers to positions of power all over the country is extreme and threatens the very foundations of our republic.
Denying basic facts in favor of baseless conspiracy theories is extreme and threatens the very foundations of our republic.
Biden didn’t invent the idea that MAGA world is a threat to democracy, and most American people — including a quarter of Republicans — agree, according to recent polling.
But you can understand why this would be so hard to hear, so painful, so gut-wrenching, even for the party that belittles liberal “snowflakes” for finding words and ideas offensive …
… and even for the party that shrugged when Trump mocked a disabled journalist, a prisoner of war, a teenage activist, Asian accents and asylum seekers …
… and even for the party that accepted Trump’s disparaging comments about women, Jews, Blacks, Muslims, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants and the poor.
Indeed, let’s all have some empathy and compassion for the aggrieved MAGA Republicans, who no longer feel safe in Joe Biden’s America.