Joe Biden isn’t the first person to use a somewhat bizarre backdrop for important speeches.

I remember when Barack Obama strode onto the stage in Denver to accept his party’s nomination for the presidency. It was lined with Greek Columns, and bathed in a golden light, like the Parthenon. There was something jarringly over the top about it, but most of his presidency was over the top in terms of cultural messaging, so I suppose this was an auspicious beginning for the next eight years.

But Obama can get away with pretty much anything. Papa Joe, on the other hand, is barely hanging on to some credibility by his nicely manicured fingernails. Although his current approval ratings hover below 45 percent, that’s an improvement over where they were a few weeks ago, before the Supreme Court ruled that killing babies was not a fundamental constitutional right. Now, the sort of people who think it always was and are unusually upset about losing that “right” have decided to support the guy who promises them everything and anything, as long as he takes it from productive Americans (like those who pay back their student loans.)

READ MORE — Christine Flowers: The Rosary is a symbol of love, not hate

And since he’s been feeling flush with support over the past few days, Biden decided to give a speech designed to mollify his mercurial base, while making sure to alienate half of the country he says he loves.  Lucky for we native Philadelphians, he chose the City of Loving Fratricide for that speech. More specifically, he chose the most sacred site in our metropolis, Independence Hall.

The speech itself was predictably cruel, divisive, hateful, intolerant, poorly-written and insulting. Anyone who thought that Biden really meant it when he said he’d try and “unite” the country are either fools, or doing the sort of drugs Democratic senatorial candidate John Fetterman wants to decriminalize. Biden is a spiteful man, and all of his talk about wanting to work across the aisle is historical fiction. The man has only ever worked to advance his self-interests, and if there were some Republicans who could help him do it, he was willing to “work” alongside of them. Even the legislation that he happened to sponsor, including the laudable Violence Against Women’s Act seems a bit ironic in view of his treatment of women who don’t agree with him (like the pro-life kind.)

So the speech didn’t raise any eyebrows from this writer.

What did stun, to a certain extent, was the stagecraft, a word I have carefully chosen because of its similarity to “witchcraft.” The bizarre lighting, with the speaker and two uncomfortable Marine Props bathed in a scarlet glow, was reminiscent of a music video from the 1980s. You expected Billy Idol to jump up on stage and start singing about a “White [Supremacist] Wedding,” or extras from Game of Thrones to re-enact that famous episode where all the nuptial guests were murdered. It was sick, weird, in the poorest taste since a Kardashian was born, and at the same time revelatory.

Joe Biden is bellicose. He is not a man of peace. He is a warrior, someone who sees the person on the other side as an enemy to be vanquished, not a potential ally to be persuaded. He chose that backdrop, and those words, to make this point:  he is only a half-president, owing allegiance to half of a nation, feeling responsibility for half of its citizens. He has allowed himself to be swallowed whole by the sort of folks who think that Twitter is real life, and that there is no nuance in the human soul. You are either my friend, and agree with me on all points and share all virtues, or you are evil.

The one good thing about the Philadelphia speech was that it demonstrated, once and for all, that Biden and his supporters hate us, as much as they hated Trump.

The irony is that when Trump gave his inaugural speech, people expressed repulsion at his “American Carnage” rhetoric. And while I did feel that address was a bit over the top, even as I watched it from Philadelphia where young black men are in greater danger than women in Kabul, I didn’t think it was all that offensive. That’s because Trump wasn’t attacking other Americans. He was trying, in his less than subtle way, to explain why and how we needed to fix what was deeply broken in society. I took that speech as an invitation to all of us.

Biden, on the other hand, crossed the rhetorical Rubicon with his assault on Republicans in particular and conservatives in general. His weak attempt to distinguish “MAGA” Republicans from the “good kind” fell flat, because we all know that anyone who doesn’t swallow his politics and policies is not the “good kind” of Republican.

The one good thing about the Philadelphia speech was that it demonstrated, once and for all, that Biden and his supporters hate us, as much as they hated Trump. They hate us as much as they hate DeSantis, Walker, Palin, McConnell, McCarthy, Kavanaugh, Alito, Barrett, Thomas, Vance, Greene, Gaetz, Jordan and any other “non” team player who fills their air space.

Message received, Mr. President.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and lifelong Philadelphian. @flowerlady61

10 thoughts on “Christine Flowers: When Joe saw red”

  1. Trump spent four years calling Democrats “fascists” and the enemy of the state while he was POTUS. Biden says one thing and the MAGA group gets the vapors and clutches their pearls. I don’t know if Biden hates half the country but half the country does hate Trump and his delusional cult. Trump inspires this.

    1. The only way Republicans can get votes are to use their media outlets to try to convince people that Democrats hate them. It’s obviously failing which is why they’re going with plan B: let state legislatures nullify elections so votes don’t matter.

  2. Donald Trump called Democrats fascists and enemies of the state too many times to count. He has an intense dislike for most Americans, even Republicans. Look how he treated his own VP in the end. Poor Mike Pence almost got killed. Republican leaders are terrified of the guy. I don’t recognize that party or those people anymore.

  3. When Donald Trump called Democrats fascists, communists, or enemies of the state all we heard out of Christine Flowers were crickets chirping. I don’t remember reading her column denouncing Trump for his violent Capitol riot. The other day Trump said he would pardon all his violent Capitol rioters and make our government apologize to them. Crickets out of Christine. Christine only attacks Democrats but doesn’t take responsibility for the horrendous actions out of her own party.

    1. Of course she doesn’t. She’s a party hack who only knows how to dutifully and obediently parrot the politically approved Party Talking Points.

      1. Love, love, LOVE, how TRUMP lives RENT FREE in ya’all’s brain. Its glorious!!!! You still don’t get it, do you? Ah well. perhaps someday..

        1. No, we don’t get it, Lady Jane. We don’t worship politicians like the MAGA cult worships a politician. We don’t understand how Christians worship a man who is against everything Jesus ever stood for. Trump is running for POTUS. So as much as the majority of Americans wish we never had to hear his name again, we do have to get to the polls like nobody’s business to vote against him again in 2024.

      2. It’s interesting how Flowers writes “the one good thing about the Philadelphia speech was that it demonstrated, once and for all, that Biden and his supporters hate us.” It’s Donald Trump and his supporters who constantly debase the majority of Americans at every single Trump rally. They wear “Let’s Go Brandon” garb, and chant “F Joe Biden” in front of children at ball games. They are paid to hold up signs that say “blacks for Trump” at his rallies. Just because the majority of us are quiet, don’t go to rallies, don’t worship any politician doesn’t mean we don’t notice and aren’t appalled at that angry cult. Biden doesn’t have supporters. Americans disliked Trump enough to get to the polls to vote against him. If he’s on the ballot in 2024. Same result.

  4. As usual, Flowers is willing to obfuscate in an effort to push her agenda. Biden was crystal clear that he was referring specifically to the most extreme of the MAGA base. (Hillary was only wrong in that it is much bigger than a basket). Biden wasn’t vague. He was CRYSTAL CLEAR. He has always and still to this day works with Republicans that he disagrees with. One of his best friends was the very Right wing John McCain. Tagging Biden as a Republican basher is only believed by the ignorant – or those with the same agenda as Flowers. Flowers, is easy to decipher. Biden is pro-choice. That alone makes him her mortal enemy. It also means that she will find ANY reason, use any spin and convolute any story in an effort to defame him.

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