{"id":1637974,"date":"2022-09-09T16:33:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T20:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637974"},"modified":"2022-09-09T16:34:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T20:34:05","slug":"democrats-arent-divisive-theyre-desperate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-arent-divisive-theyre-desperate\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Aren\u2019t \u2018Divisive,\u2019 They\u2019re Desperate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-arent-divisive-theyre-desperate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637974&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>People on the right are calling Joe Biden\u2019s vicious \u201cMAGA Republicans\u201d speech \u201cunpresidential\u201d and \u201cdivisive\u201d when in reality, it was simply desperate. That\u2019s a new theme on the left that has become obvious on a comical level.<\/p>\n<p>The national media have spent the last several weeks insisting that after enduring months of record inflation, unaffordable gas and electric bills, plus a completely avoidable war costing taxpayers billions (and counting), the country is now feeling <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/30\/biden-is-winning-and-lizzo-is-healthy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a new sense of affection<\/a> for Biden. I\u2019m sure. Now they\u2019re hyping up the Democrat line about some \u201cextreme MAGA ideology\u201d (<em>what?<\/em>) and \u201cauthoritarian leaders\u201d who \u201crepresent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those are all quotes that Biden slurred his way through last week in Philadelphia, but the sentiment was just as sweetly captured the previous day in a New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/31\/opinion\/ron-desantis-re-election-florida.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">column<\/a> by Thomas Edsall. But instead of targeting the unnamed yet ever-so-fearsome \u201cMAGA Republicans,\u201d Edsall and a round of scholars went after <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/nyt-calls-desantis-extreme-because-media-have-no-idea-whats-actually-popular\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a>, aka God\u2019s Chosen One.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that Ron DeSantis \u2026 is favored to win re-election is a clear warning to those worried about declining support for democratic institutions and values in the United States,\u201d wrote Edsall.<\/p>\n<p>A popular governor might be chosen by voters in his state for a second term. That certainly doesn\u2019t <em>sound<\/em> like cause for worry. But maybe Edsall has a bigger point.<\/p>\n<p>Should DeSantis win reelection, he wrote, it would indicate that voters in a major swing state \u201cwill tolerate, if not actively embrace, the abuse of traditional political norms by domineering leaders.\u201d It\u2019s unclear what Edsall meant by \u201cabuse of traditional political norms,\u201d but he noted that the governor \u201chas made no secret of his intent to use executive authority to the fullest extent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If an elected official\u2019s use of authority \u201cto the fullest extent\u201d is \u201cthe abuse of traditional political norms,\u201d it would be interesting to know what Edsall makes of Biden unilaterally spreading hundreds of billions of dollars of student loan debt among taxpayers, including many who never went to college and many who had already paid off their own. It would be interesting to know what he makes of Biden\u2019s failed attempt at coercing millions of workers to inject themselves with an experimental drug.<\/p>\n<p><em>Those weren\u2019t an abuse of traditional political norms. Those were bold progressive actions!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Edsall went on to cite some of DeSantis\u2019s more widely known achievements in office, including his crackdown on public schools that were teaching children that to be white is a problem; punitive measures he took against corporations that get tax breaks and then get mouthy about politics; and his removal of a state attorney general who openly said he would not adhere to a Supreme Court ruling.<\/p>\n<p>It was \u201csurprising\u201d to Edsall that the productive governor hadn\u2019t been the subject of a more focused political pushback from Florida Democrats. But he also admitted he knew why that was: \u201cOne answer is that his policies have substantial support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ah, so it\u2019s difficult to successfully take down an elected official who is actually supported by the people he represents, even if some of that support is begrudging. Who knew?!<\/p>\n<p>This is where Edsall introduced his trusty gang of \u201cexperts\u201d to make the case that despite DeSantis having broad appeal among the people who would have to hand him any higher office he has designs for \u2014\u00a0we call this an \u201celection\u201d \u2014 such a victory would mean certain doom for democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at Stanford\u2019s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, told Edsall that what would worry him about a \u201cTrump Republican\u201d like DeSantis in office is \u201cthe extreme politicization and abuse of federal government power, the targeting of political enemies and the mobilization and emboldening of the violent, well-armed, extremist fringe of Trump followers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UCLA law professor Richard Hansen was then allowed by Edsall to dream up a scenario where former president Trump runs for a second term and \u201cfails to win legitimately but finds a route to being installed as president,\u201d which, according to Handsen, would mean the United States \u201cceases to be a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As to what sneaky, illegitimate \u201croute\u201d Trump, or anyone else, might take to being allowed into the White House while everyone sits on their thumbs is unclear. Hansen either didn\u2019t say, or Edsall failed to include that part of his quote.<\/p>\n<p>The piece went on like this at length, with various scholars and professors consulting their dream diaries about what a future second term for Trump or first term for DeSantis would mean.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u201cCertain groups would be more vulnerable. These include historically marginalized groups, who might find new restrictions on voting. Or members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community who are treated as second-class citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u201cOne might imagine the [Republican Party] in power during unified government would seek to dramatically expand the number and size of the federal courts, then fill these new positions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u201cThere could also be soft or harder controls over the media. There would be tremendous uncertainty over what a postdemocracy period would look like in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edsall concluded his piece by asserting that whether DeSantis wins a second term as governor, it will be \u201ca referendum on democracy, and the odds do not look good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That we got from Point A \u2014 DeSantis is an exceptionally skilled and popular policy executive \u2014 to Point B \u2014 DeSantis as president would turn America into an authoritarian hellscape \u2014 should leave everyone reading this with severe neck pain from straining to find the logic.<\/p>\n<p>To call this talk \u201cdivisive\u201d is to give it way too much credit. This is panicked. Democrats have surely spotted a threat, but not to our system of government. The threat is to them.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Liberal-Misery-Hateful-Everything-Everyone\/dp\/1637584350\">Liberal Misery: How the Hateful Left Sucks Joy Out of Everything and Everyone<\/a>.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People on the right are calling Joe Biden\u2019s vicious \u201cMAGA Republicans\u201d speech \u201cunpresidential\u201d and \u201cdivisive\u201d when in reality, it was simply desperate. That\u2019s a new theme on the left that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}