What Biden Could Have Said, if Unity was the Goal - BCB #14

"We can all be friends, as long as you're the one to change."

Biden called for “unity” in his speech last week in Philadelphia, but Red audiences are more likely to perceive his words as an escalation. There was the whiff of a strategy of separating reasonable Reds from their extreme wing, but it wasn’t realized. Biden was probably trying to ensure that Blue candidates win in the November elections, but it would take a different sort of message to advance the long, slow process of de-escalating the American conflict.

What Biden said:

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. I want to be very clear, very clear up front, not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology

Why this is polarizing

Careful parsing of Biden’s remarks suggests that “MAGA Republicans” might refer to 10 or 15% of the US population. But such estimates are beside the point, because many Reds heard it as an attack on their side generally. This should not be surprising – it’s the same logic that suggests we not say “Islamic terrorism” because it can be read to implicate Muslims generally.

What Biden could have said:

A small number of people within the Republican party no longer believe in democracy. These people no longer believe in the greatness of our country. I know many conservatives are so frustrated with the status quo that they might be sympathetic, but I say to you: do not let these violent extremists stain your proud history.

What Biden said:

They refuse to accept the results of a free election.  And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

Why this is polarizing:

About a third of the country (and a majority of Reds) believe Biden did not legitimately win the election. Many more express deep skepticism about the coming election, worrying about either Red or Blue fraud. Although we may be far from agreement on who should vote and how (voter ID laws, mail-in ballots, etc.) there is broad support for election reform to modernize processes and improve security.

What Biden could have said:

Now I know some people don’t accept the results of the 2020 election. I think we need to be honest that every court which has looked at the evidence has rejected claims of widespread fraud. Nonetheless, doubt about the legitimacy of election results threatens the foundation of our democracy, which is why I support bipartisan efforts to make the elections more accessible, transparent, and trusted.

What Biden said:

Today, there are dangers around us we cannot allow to prevail. We hear — you’ve heard it — more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country.  It’s not.  It can never be an acceptable tool. So I want to say this plain and simple: There is no place for political violence in America. 

Why this is polarizing:

This comes off as deeply hypocritical to Red listeners. It’s just one more moment where Blue refuses to acknowledge the violence associated with the 2020 BLM protests, or the fact that some Blue institutions supported it.

What Biden could have said:

It was wrong for protestors to turn to violence in the summer of 2020 – as I said repeatedly at the time – and it was wrong for protestors to disrupt the counting of votes on January 6. No matter your politics, violence is never an acceptable political tool in this country. 

This is all fantasy, of course. Biden wants people to “vote, vote, vote,” and scaring voters is the surest strategy to boost turnout in our age of negative partisanship. The phrase “MAGA Republicans” may even have been calculated to make the Republican party as whole seem unreasonable, despite the explicit “not all Republicans” disclaimer. 

Yet there is the hint of a plausible depolarization strategy in his words. De-escalating our politics will require exclusion of the most extreme voices, and this can only be done by co-partisans. In other words, we are badly in need of a narrative that dignifies reasonable conservatives while marginalizing Trumpist attacks on democracy. Biden’s speech gestured in that direction, but offered nothing for Reds who are uncomfortable with their extreme wing.

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Quote of the Week

“…[P]eople who have more benign attitudes towards rival partisans, less dislike and even hate, tend also to be more inclined to affiliate with, interact with, (or) be willing to live near rival partisans.”

-Rob Willer