There is a concept in psychology termed projection. It generally means describing your own traits, but transferring them onto someone else.
Now that the dust has settled a bit and we can take it apart much easier, Joe Biden’s recent speech on the “semi-fascist” tendencies of MAGA Republicans was just that, a projection of his real intentions for America.
I don’t have to go into the now familiar Mussolini backdrop, the eerie red lighting, the military guards, or the spasmodic hand gestures to make the case for Biden’s not very semi fascist speech. You just have to read the thing. First, the teaser.
“It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.”
Then: “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.
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. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.”
So, to protect America from “semi-fascism” Joe Biden, knowing that Trump supporters make up a majority of the Republican Party, has condemned them to the point he is calling for a one party Democrat state. Gee, projection anyone?
Biden is setting up unconstitutiinal moves against Trump and his supporters rationalized by an alleged existential threat to the state. Heard that before? Reichstag fire, anyone?
His inner Ben Stein calls out in a mythical Bueller movie classroom, “Himmler? Himmler? Himmler? Himmler?”
I would love to say Trump is too smart to take the bait and play into the Biden charge. But I’d be wrong. In endorsing a gubernatorial candidate he recently said, “He’ll rule your state with an iron fist, and he’ll do what has to be done.” Dems were no doubt pleased with verbal confirmation of their charges.
Thus as usual in America today we wish a pox on both houses. Trump, always his own worst enemy, says inane and unnaturally bellicose things while Biden and his devotees seek complete political control to establish an authoritarian socialist regime. Both are wrong for America, but only one merits ultimate disapproval at the polls. So once again, as Churchill to Stalin, we find ourselves siding with Trump, the lesser of evils. When 2024 rolls around it would be nice to support an actually viable leader and not merely the candidate who is marginally less odious than the other.