The Morning Dispatch: Biden vs. ‘MAGA Republicans’

The president denounces his former opponent and his supporters in a speech in Philadelphia.

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Happy Friday! The Dispatch’s fantasy football season kicks off today with a draft after our end-of-week editorial meeting. Any advice on which players to target this year? Steve can use all the help he can get.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The National Center for Education Statistics released its latest assessment of educational progress on Thursday, finding decades of progress were erased during the pandemic. The average reading test score for 9-year-old students in the U.S. dropped five points from 2020 to 2022—the largest such decline since 1990—and the average math test score for 9-year-old students fell seven points, the first decline since the assessment began in the 1970s. Black students—who were more likely to attend schools that stayed remote during the pandemic and more likely to lose relatives to COVID-19—lost 13 points in math, while white students lost five.

  • The months-long ceasefire in Ethiopia appears on the verge of collapsing, with Tigray People’s Liberation Front officials claiming troops aligned with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments recently began an offensive in four areas of the country’s northern Tigray region. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen didn’t dispute the charges on Thursday, saying the TPLF has been “violating the spirit of the humanitarian truce” with hostile rhetoric and child soldier recruitment—and that the government had acted with “utmost care to avoid civilian casualties.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on both sides of the conflict to “halt military operations and redouble efforts to bring a permanent end” to the fighting.

  • After several incidents involving warning flares earlier this week, Taiwanese troops reportedly shot down a civilian drone flying near Kinmen Island on Thursday after efforts to repel it failed. Geopolitical experts see the continued incursions as part of China’s “gray-zone” tactics and an attempt to humiliate Taiwan’s military.

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  1. Jaynie Floyd

    One line of Biden’s speech “These two documents and what they embody equality and democracy are the rock on which this nation is built.” Those words aren’t in either document. Who is the speech writer?

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    CJ Klein

    The way Biden could have done so is by excising the last ~40% of his speech (propping up his administration's achievements, which made it feel like a campaign rally with a cheering crowd), and by using extremely pointed language (Jan 6 Republicans instead of MAGA Republicans, which would also link it to the Jan 6 Committee's work - which would be too competent a move for this administration - and ditching "mainstream" for any other word for sane, normal, conservative Republicans - as "mainstream" probably sounds too close to "mainstream media", and current "mainstream" Republicans are decidedly Trump worshipers).

    All that said, a Democrat criticizing Republicans is much less likely to move the needle within the Republican Party than a Republican delivering the same message, but in the language that speaks to the American right. I would wager one prominent Republican will do so after the elections this year. The goal should be setting up a faction within the party that will be ready to lead once the Trump fever breaks, likely some time after 2024 (assuming Trump is not elected again - otherwise our only savior will be SMOD).

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  3. BigDaddy52

    Partisan enough to rile 'em. Can't fault major networks for not carrying a campaign style speech.
    Won't argue with Biden's facts about danger or degree of fascism.
    Unfortunately, too much nuance in the speech for most people. Makes it too easy for magamaniacs warp the facts.
    Hard question? What will we do to stop the crash?

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    Dina

    QUOTD: The question should not be whether Biden's remarks were partisan but whether they were true, which they were. That is the only thing that matters.

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  5. David B.

    I think he could have improved it by calling out "election deniers" if his desire was to be less divisive. Some people that consider themselves MAGA Republicans might not be fully in the election denier camp and it's always better to call out behavior rather than a vague group name, which means different things to different people.

    A MAGA person close to me, let's call him X, sent me the Biden video to show me how horrible Biden is. My conclusion was that Biden was saying the same thing about X that he says about himself. For example, "There is no information that will ever convince me that the election was not stolen." Or in Biden terms: "They believe there are only two results of an election: their side won or the election was stolen." Same thing. I can't figure what X was so mad about.

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  6. Anonymous

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      Magpie

      Hard to imagine anything more likely to lead to widespread bloodshed than that. But you're joking, right?

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      1. Anonymous

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          Magpie

          I've reported this post to TD administrators.

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  7. Monty Brown

    First I never intend but may inadvertently misstate my position. I never say never except in shying away from the single causal factor.

    You ask about europe. here is one explanation: "Among the most common causes of the increase in inflation rate around the world are the Coronavirus outbreak and the disruption in the supply chains it led to. Increasing the prices of goods, making them unaffordable for many people. "

    Central banks printed money, Biden borrows that money and puts that currency into circulation in quantities that overwhelmed the supply of goods and services thus increasing the prices for scarce supply. Lots of chicken and egg stuff here. Was it with support of other than democrats? Some not all. Was it needed? Much debate here. Was he alone in this? Heaven only knows who is guiding these policies, you guess.

    Do I tend to equate Biden as the main actor here? Yes. Is that fair? He isn't offering to share credit. My guess is that his staff selected by the winning team is leading here...Bernie, Warren, and the five, all seem likely major influencers but maybe you, I simply don't know.

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    Marc Frischhertz

    The pearl clutching on the right is a sign of how pathetic we have become. Even the Dispatch in general has fallen victim to the right wing narrative. We are constantly told that we have to understand where the Trump cult is coming from and watch what we say. Meanwhile, they lob verbal threats at democrats and just about everyone who isn’t MAGA. The perspective is apparently they are so fragile that we have moderate our tone, but the expectations from them are so low that democrats just have to take it

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    1. Keith Blank

      Hi Marc. This is interesting. I feel like MAGA lobbing threats isn't justification for anyone responding in kind. It's also tactically unsound, as is MAGA's initial hostility. However, I haven't seen anyone saying to treat MAGA with kid gloves either.

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        Marc Frischhertz

        You haven’t been listening to right wing talk radio. It is a constant narrative of how justified their anger is

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        1. Keith Blank

          I haven’t been listening to right wing talk radio. I get it in person though unfortunately. And this may be more genuine as it’s not financially driven. While they may feel it is justified. and some anger may be, wielding it is counterproductive towards a solution. Further, responding to it in a fight-fire-with-fire method is simply getting drug into the fire - possibly their goal.

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            Marc Frischhertz

            This is the problem. I don’t accept that what Biden has done is anything like what MAGA does. He was a calling them out. They are a vocal 30% that is shrinking and reacting to his speech in a predictable way, but not in a way that will increase their numbers.

            The biggest fear I have is that they have no intention to moderate and increase their numbers to a majority. Instead they appear he’ll bent on exploiting the anti-democratic aspects of our system (gerrymandering and the electoral college for example) to win power without a majority. What used to be a convenient feature that helped republicans (GWB for example) is now part of the MAGA plan

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  9. Halvor

    With semi-fascists crawling over the Capitoline Hill, someone had to cross the Rubicon.

    Biden alone could do it: this creaking, sentimental Senator who was outclassed every day of his life. During the last midterm elections, he went to Benton Harbor MI and told a business luncheon that Rep. Fred Upton was an asset to Congress, while a Democratic opponent had a decent chance of taking the seat. Maybe Biden needed the speaker fee, not being of the upper crust. But he’s also truly a politician of the pieties, and he wears bipartisanship like cologne.

    It takes a Biden to smash the illusion that MAGA can be bargained with, dissuaded. Trump’s power is in the hands of moderates, independents and swing voters who lean right and have to be persuaded to reject the greater evil.

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  10. JEllis

    Regarding Baltimore's replacement mascot, I am rooting for the Conquering Worm, but will settle for the Gold Bug.

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