Hate Speech, Law, and Biden

In law and Latin, the phrase “res ipsa loquitur” means “the thing speaks for itself,” or an act is criminally negligent without need for added proof. If a piano falls from a roof, someone below gets killed, the law against killing people by dropping pianos on them is met, no need for added proof. Now, let me ask you – does “the thing speak for itself?” Did Biden commit the crime of “hate speech?”

In a remarkably hostile speech in Philadelphia, not focused on policy or unity, mischaracterizing the Nation’s founding documents, President Biden impugned the integrity, honesty, and patriotism of tens of millions of Americans, calling Republicans a “threat to democracy,” “extremists,” worthy of calumny, if not hatred.

Staging was cockamamie, except supposed to be frightening, apparently signaling how serious his speech was. Bathed in blood red light, using US Marines as stage props, he looked like something out of “Brown Shirt” Germany, flag-draped Reichstag, maybe President Mao speaking at the Chinese Communist National Congress, or from the old Soviet Union’s penchant for red. American, it was not.

Against this backdrop, he decried the slogan “Make America Great Again,” or “MAGA,” calling those who use it, who believe it, and who are motivated by that idea – “extremists.” Stunningly for any responsible leader, he imputed evil motives to peaceful Americans, calling them “a threat to the country.”

This stuff is edgy, weird, not what American politics is about, and certainly not democratic. The idea – like so many from his party – was apparently to scare, induce, intimidate, agitate, and motivate. It would be laughable, except these holders of power appear consumed by it, afraid they will lose it, desperate.

To bluntly call most of the opposing party “extremist,” “a threat to democracy,” to say they “do not respect the Constitution,” “do not believe in rule of law,” “do not recognize the will of the people,” mean to corrupt “elections,” and “undermine democracy,” is breathtaking stuff, un-American.

It is not only untoward, but out of step with American history, which has tolerated lots of opposition movements, even the end of various political parties, all in the name of hearing the people, which has had Republican and Democratic populists. It is itself extremist and a threat to democracy.

Worse, to see an unpopular, ineffective, often disoriented president of the United States embarrass himself by trying to win midterm votes by demonizing his patriotic countrymen – those who love their historic liberty, the American flag, anthem, and ideals – is slightly unnerving.

Worst of all, worse than defaming millions, misstating facts, mischaracterizing historic documents, giving way to personal attacks, seeding acrimony, and stirring passion; worse than appealing to what divides Americans, letting bitterness reign, and dodging popular miscontent; worse than creating a weird, militaristic Halloween backdrop to create fear, is sewing hate. That is what he did.

The point was not lost – on those who watched. As one regional Pennsylvania paper summed it:  In a “primetime speech Thursday, delivered in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall lit in ghostly red, President Joe Biden cast the most strident opponents of his administration as enemies of American democracy. In doing so, Mr. Biden pushed an already perilously divided and intolerant society closer to the brink …”

What he did was speak hatefully of half the country, seeking to isolate them, inspire hatred toward them as a former Democratic presidential candidate called Americans “deplorables” and another derided conservative Americans as rubes for “clinging to guns and religion.”

Indeed. But this was worse, a broadside against most registered Republicans, a former president and potential candidate, recently subject to an unprecedented home raid – increasingly suspect, political, and a violation of historic understandings around the 4th Amendment.

What is criminal “hate speech?” “Hate speech” is a concept that contradicts our First Amendment, which allows this kind of rhetoric. Ironically, Democrats have pushed the concept of criminalizing “hate speech.”  Arguably, this president just pushed the envelope.

The Cambridge dictionary says it is "public speech that expresses hate …towards a person or group … usually thought to include communications of animosity or disparagement of an individual or a group” for many reasons. Likewise, federal agencies have “investigated speech that fostered a climate of hatred and prejudice in which hate crimes may occur.”

Bottom line: This was an ill-conceived speech, one that stirs unworthy, potentially dangerous passions, sewing hate for no reason, with the obvious purpose of demonizing another political party and their leaders, regardless of damage to the Republic, democratic norms, and political cohesion.

In a phrase, Mr. Biden indulged “hate speech” for political gain, a genuine shame. As Caesar might say, although things ended poorly for him, “res ipsa loquitur.” “The thing speaks for itself.” That said, if you are a Republican, watch out for falling pianos.