Democrats, media personnel, and others
Individual I’ve spent years having an uneasy relationship with the truth. Suggest President Donald Trump is an “existential threat to our democracy.”
The argument that American voters choosing by a majority the candidate disliked by the political establishment would mark the end of the very institution that elected them has been repeated many times by the man most likely to benefit from this narrative: President Joe Biden.
Shortly after a group of Biden associates succeeded in temporarily barring a Democratic incumbent’s biggest rival from the Colorado primary late last year, Biden Tweeted“Trump poses many threats to our country — the right to choose, civil rights, the right to vote, and America’s standing in the world. But the greatest threat he poses is to our democracy.”
“You know, these phrases are common on the op-ed pages of The New York Times and MSNBC.”
All of these efforts to portray Trump as a threat to democracy have been effectively futile.
Ezra Klein, founder of the left-leaning blog Vox, revealed to a sympathizer at another left-leaning blog on Wednesday that Biden wasn’t the only Democrat who seemed not to really believe the existential threat narrative.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get to know each other,” Bulwark’s Tim Miller told Klein.
Podcasts “Phrases like ‘democracy is under threat’ and ‘its very existence is under threat’ are common in the op-ed sections of The New York Times and MSNBC, which I frequent,” he said.
Klain then explained that Democratic Party officials who know Biden will likely suffer a humiliating defeat in November could be justified in not calling for him to drop out of the race, even as their colleagues have signaled this existential threat as a result.
“Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to join Trump’s campaign to scare voters with the idea that he will end our democratic system.”
“Democratic leaders believe he will lose if Joe Biden comes out on top, but there are no calls for him to resign. There are many ways to say this, but one thing that’s clear is that … whatever they believe intellectually, they certainly don’t believe Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy,” Klein said.
Klein is the Democratic congressman for Maine, Jared Golden.
Recent editorials The Bangor Daily News expressed Democrats’ understanding that Trump poses no danger to democracy.
“I won’t be voting for him, but Donald Trump will win and I’m OK with that,” Golden wrote.
“Democratic anxiety after the debate is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political defeat but a particular threat to our democracy. I reject this premise. Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to join a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic institutions,” Golden continued. “I urge voters, public officials, the media and all citizens to ignore the scare tactics and political fantasies of the chattering class. We don’t need party insiders in smoke-filled back rooms to save us. We can protect our democracy without them.”
“It’s unusual for Golden to say that, but if you look at how a lot of Democrats are operating, I think they’re thinking that way,” Klein told Miller. “People are weighing a range of things. They’re weighing, ‘It would be very uncomfortable for me personally to oppose the president as a Democratic officeholder,’ or they’re weighing what would happen if Donald Trump won. They’re saying, ‘I could survive if Donald Trump won.’ I’ve had people say that to me.” informalto be fair.”
“Really?” Miller asked.
“A top Democrat basically said to me, ‘I don’t know why Democrats are acting the way they are if they think Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy, but I’m acting the way I am because I don’t believe that,'” Klein said.
“Who the hell is this guy?” Miller responded. “Tell us your source, Ezra! I’m about to go into leak-email mode. This is nuts.”
“It’s infuriating,” Klein said, “but I think it’s consistent. Look, this is true in many ways. The charge that Republicans always throw at liberals is that if you really believed climate change was a problem, you wouldn’t get on a plane.”
Klein’s confession helped bury the existential threat narrative, which was already on life support thanks to Biden’s recent interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos Asked Biden: “If [the race] How will you feel in January if Trump gets elected and all the things you’ve been warning about come true?”
“As long as you’ve done your best and done the best that you can, you’ll feel that’s what this is about,” Biden responded.
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