Biden Stokes Division and Fear While Trump Rallies Hope for the Future

While the second GOP primary debate dominated most of the headlines this week, the more important story may have been the contrasting visions for the country and the future outlined by runaway Republican frontrunner Donald Trump during a speech in Michigan on Wednesday and President Joe Biden during remarks in Arizona on Thursday.

Biden’s speech, which CNN called a “preview” of the president’s 2024 message, was another vague and aimless diatribe slandering conservative Americans as a “threat to democracy.” Trump’s remarks, meanwhile, offered a specific plan for the country that everyday Americans can unite around.

In other words, Biden doubled down on the tribalism and identity politics that have in part made his presidency a complete failure, while Trump returned to the conservative populist message and hopeful vision for the future that first rocketed him to the top of the political world in 2016.

After Biden’s infamous Independence Hall speech last year, which produced striking images of the president angrily denouncing his political opponents as “extremists” in front of a blood-red backdrop while flanked by U.S. Marines, it was clear that the president’s team wanted to avoid a similarly high-profile event this time around. Instead they chose a standard American Flag backdrop in Phoenix, Arizona, and had Biden deliver his remarks in the middle of the day.

Despite a far less dramatic setting, however, the substance of Biden’s speech was largely the same. After offering a few remarks honoring the late Sen. John McCain (a transparent attempt to insulate the president from accusations of partisanship) Biden proceeded to once again describe Trump voters as “extremists,” claiming that the GOP is “intimidated and driven by MAGA Republican extremists.”

Without offering any specific evidence, Biden alleged that so-called “MAGA Republicans” are “attacking the rule of law, fomenting voter suppression and election subversion,” and banning books.

“These extremists have no idea what the hell they’re talking about,” Biden continued, specifically targeting Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville for holding up military promotions over the Pentagon’s promotion of CRT and other far-left ideologies within the ranks. “This MAGA threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions. It is also a threat to the character of our nation.”

Biden then claimed that he has made “the defense and protection and preservation of American democracy the central issue of my presidency,” while also making vague overtures to “protecting the Constitution” – even as his administration and allies in Congress have pressured Big Tech to censor Americans online; used the FBI to target parents, Catholics, and pro-life activists; worked to strip Americans of their Second Amendment freedoms; launched attack after attack on the Supreme Court and the American judicial system; and tried to abolish the Electoral College, end state control of elections, and pass a host of other anti-democratic, unconstitutional policies.

Biden notably made few direct references to Trump – another sign that he views the “MAGA threat” as encompassing not just the former president, but everyone who opposes Democrat policies.

When Biden did mention Trump, it was only to repeat discredited media lies like the debunked narrative that Trump referred to fallen U.S. soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.” While rich in ad hominem attacks, the president’s speech was conspicuously absent of any specific policy vision – no doubt because his own policies are deeply unpopular.

Despite the media portrayal of Trump as driven by revenge and personal grudges, the 45th president’s remarks the day before Biden took the stage were focused on the plight of everyday Americans since 2020 (in particular the striking auto union workers he was speaking directly to) and concrete plans to improve their lives – a stark contrast to Biden’s speech which was actually driven in large part by a personal grudge against Trump.

Instead of speaking in abstractions about the supposed evils of his opponent as Biden did, Trump pointed to specific Biden policies that have harmed American workers and how he would reverse them.

“Biden’s cruel, ridiculous electric vehicle mandate will spell the death of the U.S. auto industry,” Trump declared. Later, Trump listed Biden’s history of policies that have devastated American labor, including how Biden backed NAFTA, backed China’s entry into the WTO, backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and time and again sided with globalist interests shipping U.S. jobs overseas.

“To the striking workers, I support you in your goal of fair wages and greater stability—and I truly hope you get a fair deal for yourselves and your families,” Trump said. “But if your union leaders will not demand crooked Joe repeal his electric vehicle mandate immediately, then it doesn’t matter what hourly wage you get because in two to three years you will not have one job in the United States.”

“On day one, I will terminate Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, and I will cancel every job-killing regulation that is crushing American auto workers,” Trump promised. “I will unleash a thing called American energy, stop the ban on the internal combustion engine, and we will ‘drill, baby, drill.’”

Trump also reiterated his pledge to pass what he has called the “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act,” which would implement an equal tariff on any country that imposes a tariff on U.S. goods. “Under the Trump presidency, patriotic protectionism will be the new American way.”

“By the time this battle is over, the rusted-out factories will not be here in Michigan,” Trump concluded. “The new buildings and production lines will be built in Lansing and Flint and Sterling Heights and Grand Rapids.”

Trump’s speech made clear once again that what animates his politics is a desire to build a better future for America – both literally and figuratively. His speeches are remarkably specific because his vision for the country is remarkably clear. Trump in Michigan was Trump at his best, speaking the common language of prosperity and optimism for what America can be.

Biden, meanwhile, confirmed that he is consumed by a desire to cling to power – so much so that he is willing to use lies to attempt to scare people into believing that their family, friends, and neighbors are a “threat to democracy” just because they might support Biden’s chief political opponent.

So much for returning “honor and decency” to the White House.

B.C. Brutus is the pen name of a writer with previous experience in the legislative and executive branches.