Hillary's 'deplorables' and Biden's anti-MAGA speech
Some similarities. One subtle - but important - difference
President Biden gave a big speech last night about the anti-democratic threat of Trumpism — he calls its practitioners “MAGA Republicans” — and somewhat predictably, a few folks on the right are comparing it to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” speech.
Is that fair? Maybe. But not quite — and certainly not for the reasons the right would have you think.
Let’s start with the “deplorables” speech. From the start, Republicans used it to suggest that Hillary Clinton was painting all Trump voters as terrible people. But you have to quote the original speech at length in order to get a sense of why that’s wrong:
"You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? [Laughter/applause]. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric. Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.
"But the other basket, the other basket, and I know because I see friends from all over America here. I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas, as well as you know New York and California. But that other basket of people who are people who feel that government has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they are just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
Now, this was arguably bad politics in the middle of a heated campaign — because the “basket of deplorables” soundbite was always going to get attention, and the larger context of making distinctions would inevitably be lost. Situational awareness of how your words might be used is kind of important for a high-profile politician.
But she was making distinctions.
Some of Trump’s supporters — ok, half — were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.” And broadly speaking she was right!
But other Trump supporters, she suggested, are simply scared and deserve our goodwill. They’re scared, “people who feel that government has let them down, nobody cares about them.” And so “those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
That’s far more broad-minded than the speech is often portrayed.
Which brings us to Biden’s speech. He, too, offered a harsh critique of MAGA Republicans, and he too drew distinctions. A big difference between Biden and Hillary, though, is that Biden led with the distinctions.
Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.
Now, I want to be very clear — (applause) — very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.
I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.
But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.
Biden doesn’t just lead with distinctions — he does something else in a few, economical words here that’s huge: He signals that a few non-authoritarian Republicans are part of a larger, pro-democratic “us.” He’s offering a welcome to those folks1, and suggests teamwork is possible with them.
And that’s honestly an improvement over Hillary’s speech. Not just because it’s more concise and less apt to be distorted — though clearly Trump’s allies are trying — and not just because it’s more explicitly welcoming, but also because Hillary’s speech still gives a sense that the non-deplorables are still “them.” Even if you’re not in the basket of deplorables, even if you’re in the second group of people who deserve our empathy, it’s still … kind of patronizing.
So yeah, Biden’s anti-MAGA speech is like Hillary’s “deplorables” speech. But Hillary’s speech isn’t as bad as you remember — and Biden’s speech is still better.
POSTSCRIPT: One other point I want to make: While Biden is making an effort to include non-MAGA Republicans on the pro-democracy team, Trump is at the same time trying to purge the GOP of any vestiges of criticism or disloyalty to his leadership. One is welcoming and the other exclusionary. It’s like a tug-of-war where one side is pulling and the other is pushing.
We know that kind of contest usually works out.
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A linguistic tic I share with our president. What can I say? I’m Kansan.