On Wednesday, Old Joe Biden said it again. In his statement on the Fifth Circuit’s decision that DACA is unlawful, the doddering pseudo-president claimed: “This challenge to DACA is just another example of the extreme agenda being pushed by MAGA-Republican officials.” This echoed his infamous red-and-black speech of September 1, in which he asserted that “respected conservatives, like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig, has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans, quote, a ‘clear and present danger’ to our democracy.”
Biden called “MAGA Republicans” extreme three times in that speech, and declared: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” “Extreme” is one of his favorite words for his political opponents. And this isn’t just partisan rhetoric. It’s far more ominous and fraught with implications than most people realize.
On September 23, Old Joe said that in the upcoming midterm elections, “Americans will have to choose between the MAGA Republican platform who have embraced extremism and the Big Lie; Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans who believe in the rule of law.” That same day, Karine Jean-Pierre said the Republicans’ proposed “extreme national ban and plan to criminalize doctors is wildly out of step with the American people, and President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to do everything in their power to protect women’s reproductive rights and expand access to healthcare.”
On September 15, she bragged that Biden has been “steadfast in his support for marriage equality, as well as the need for this legislation, given the Supreme Court’s extreme actions, so this right is protected everywhere.”
Meanwhile, also on September 15, the administration announced that “the Department of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence will develop a website of key reports and resources on financing domestic violent extremism to help inform the public and private sectors. Treasury will also undertake strategic engagement with regional financial institutions across the United States to discuss risks associated with financing domestic violent extremism, and hold a workshop with virtual currency firms on domestic violent extremist use of virtual assets.”
It’s hard to escape the impression that the domestic violent extremists that the administration has in mind are the so-called “MAGA Republicans.” They’re not violent, you say? Hardcore true-believing Leftists, and they are legion, will invoke the Jan. 6 non-insurrection against that claim, and then it’s off to the races. Barack Obama started this ball rolling back in 2011 when he had all mention of Islam and jihad removed from counterterror training.
The war on terror was being reframed to fight against a new enemy, but no one realized it at the time. The word “terrorism” itself was out, replaced by “extremism.” Obama named his revamped counterterror program “Countering Violent Extremism,” and in all of the literature this program produced, it carefully avoided actually defining who exactly the extremists who were being countered were.
Related: White House: Trump Supporters Are an ‘Extreme Threat to Our Democracy’
At the time, most analysts who were aware of the nature and magnitude of the global jihad threat thought that this change reflected Obama’s politically correct refusal to utter even the slightest critical word regarding Islam, and there is no doubt that it was that. But it is now clear that it was more as well. “Extremism” is a completely vague and contentless word. Anyone doing anything can be regarded as an “extremist”; it all depends on your point of view. And that’s why the use of the word is so insidious: it can be attached to anyone, for virtually any reason, and then the entire counterterror apparatus of the most powerful nation in the world can be brought down upon that person. And what can the victim do?
In repeatedly referring to his most numerous and formidable political opponents as “extremists,” Old Joe Biden and his henchmen are laying the groundwork for those opponents to be treated as terrorists. They use the word “extremist” for law-abiding Americans who oppose their globalist, socialist, America-Last program much more often than they apply this label to anyone else. When was the last time you heard Old Joe warn about “Islamic extremists,” or — the very idea that he would say anything about this is laughable — “Left-wing extremists”? The only alleged extremism that is on Joe’s radar is the extremism that Donald Trump and his supporters supposedly represent.
This is the real “extremism.” Never before in American history has a president endeavored to rule his political opponents outside the bounds of acceptable discourse, and drop strong hints that he hoped eventually to criminalize his political opposition. These are dark times, dominated by extremism. But that extremism is coming from the fake Oval Office that Old Joe uses for photo-ops, not from the foes he has targeted with this label.