Looking Back at Biden’s “End Justifies the Means” Speech

A Column By Richard Helppie

I am posting this column from a year ago because of how President Biden’s message sounds.  While I don't support former President Trump, I am concerned about the current administration's abuses of speech and privacy. It's important to remember that not supporting Trump doesn't mean accepting violations of constitutional rights. A bigger issue is the divisive "us versus them" mentality in politics. There was a day when leaders would debate their political opponents and try to win over those who voted for others. President Biden’s speech was the opposite – promise to crush the opposition and vilify their supporters.

President Biden missed opportunities for unity and understanding in his speech. Acknowledging past mistakes and showing empathy could have gone a long way. Praise for local government and encouraging citizen involvement would have been beneficial. Think if the president had reached out with the speech suggested in the column. Especially after the presidency of Donald Trump, a little humility, some well-placed mea culpas, and outreach from a president could have gone a long way.

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A presidential address to the nation normally introduces a concept, a legislative proposal or approach to a problem. The following day, analysts, experts and pundits dissect the policy ideas and debate ensues.

On September 1st, we were treated to a bizarre speech by President Joseph R. Biden. No concept, proposal or policy ideas were included.

The disingenuous, rambling, incoherent mishmash of talking points left me scratching my head.

At the outset, it is once again important to restate my well-published view on Donald J. Trump and his presidency. Mr. Trump was and is not qualified to be president of the United States, never seemed to be interested in learning the job, and has massive personal issues. Thus, he has never earned my support, or that of other independent voters disgusted with the partisan shenanigans of both major parties.

Indeed, I have called on Republicans to throw Trump under the bus and move on many times. They either cannot or will not. And I’ve called on the Democratic Party to quit gaslighting America. Not getting through to either, but not giving up.

It should not be a struggle to understand that it’s possible for one person to not be a supporter of Donald Trump and at the same time be alarmed at the current administration’s abuses of speech, privacy, the press, and possibly other institutions. Not supporting Donald Trump does not mean that “anything goes” about constitutional rights and equal treatment. Persons who wish to retreat into a binary world of “us versus them” and affix their allegiance to cult Blue or cult Red should stop reading. This mentality of “pick a team” contributes to the problem, where stupid or illegal actions are either celebrated or rejected based not on what is being done, but by what person or group is doing it.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, President Biden steps to the podium. The first impression was the unintentional imitation of Statler and Waldorf.  The hope that the “Unity President” would lean into unity with understanding, conciliation, and honesty was quickly dashed.

A great speech would have acknowledged some very bad conduct by some people in some of our most sacred institutions. The president could have defined his job as making sure that every American has the confidence that laws are equally applied, free speech is protected, and the constitution is defended.

Think of how far some humility and accountability would have gone toward creating unity and understanding. A Trumanesque acceptance of where the buck stops, and a speech that included something like, “perhaps words and actions of some of my closest political allies created so much anger and frustration that we drove some Americans from the constitution into the arms of a narcissist bent on personal aggrandizement. Some of these people reacted to their fear and hopelessness with violence, including an assault on our Capitol.”

And he could have, but didn’t offer words of unity, perhaps by stating “violence in our nation’s capital, whether it be to impede a president from visiting a burned church or for the despicable attempt to block a legally conducted election must come to a stop and must come to a stop right now.”  A true leader would seek to make it clear that the motivations for violence are immaterial instead of creating a lane for acceptable violence.

Instead, what did Joe Biden offer to the “MAGA Republicans”? Hard to say. Was it exile? Comply, or be tracked down and disposed of?  Some other means of cleansing the violent dissenters? At least, to his credit, there were no threats of sic’ing F-15’s on Americans this time.

President Biden, May I suggest you level with us?

The president could have shown some empathy, and he missed the opportunity to say something like, “I know your sense of frustration and anger over what you see and what you hear, and some of that is justified. In recent days, some 22 months after my election, major media admit they conspired to shut down the accurate reporting about the information found on my son’s laptop in advance of my election. Your FBI requested that Facebook throttle the story as well. You feel manipulated and lied to. I intend to win your trust by reviewing all these events and using the power of my office to make sure they never happen again.”

You watched great American cities burned, police precincts invaded and murderous assaults on the very police forces that we depend on to maintain order. I will not equivocate when I say that political violence is never right. No one should riot or destroy social order on behalf of me, my opponents, or any other social cause. Our constitution protects right to peaceful protest, and personal and property rights of others. As President, I intend to pull us back from the brink.

Maybe the idiot obscenely chanting at the president would have stopped to listen. Or exposed himself as an irredeemable idiot.

How About Praise for Local Government?

This speech would have been a great time to praise the ingenious design of our self-governing laws. What a great time to call for citizen awareness, voting, and involvement in municipal, state and even school board level politics. A call to action that directs people to the responsibilities of self-governing would have been motivating.

For example, acknowledge that in recent weeks the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the precedent of Roe versus Wade. Insist that a bill codifying the provisions of Roe versus Wade into law be brought to his desk. Rally people at the state level to address the issue and insist that Republicans establish a clear and sensible position. Cite the recent vote in Kansas as state governing functioning. And for good measure, condemn the threats to the home of a Justice of the Supreme Court. Simple words, simple structure – encourage citizens to use the rights of self-government to self-govern.

The President could have easily said that a great place to get involved is with your community. For too long we’ve heard educators complain that parents don’t participate in the education of their children or in governing public schools. He could have scoffed at the notion that engaged parents, concerned about the safety and education of their children, are “domestic terrorists” in need of being hounded by the FBI and DOJ. Sadly, former FBI Director Andrew McCabe leader of the Crossfire Hurricane disaster, opined on how dangerous parents are on CNN following the speech.

Encouragement of citizens to become voters would have been a great step forward. Use the bully pulpit to remind people of the awesome power of the vote, and thus their need to demonstrate responsibility in learning the local rules for casting ballots. 2020 was a great recent example where rules changed temporarily to maximize turnout during a pandemic. People learned the rules and exercised them.

Some Apologies in Order

Suppose as a unity president, Mr. Biden took steps to kill suspicions. A breath of clarity that the many unknowns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in haphazard public policy response. Something as simple as saying that the best policies, based on the then-current understanding, were tried. Some worked, some didn’t. Apologize for encouraging the censoring of public health experts – many of whom eventually proven to be correct -- who didn’t agree with the conventional wisdom served up by the CDC and fruitlessly enacted by activist governors.

Acknowledge that there has been bad behavior at the FBI. In sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, former FBI Director James Comey, along with former Attorney General Sally Yates and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein all simply answered “no” when asked if they would have approved the FISA warrant to permit spying on Carter Page had they known the contents of the Steele reporting were false.

To the average person, this sounds like changes in organization, procedures or people would be in order. Dang, for extra credit, laugh at the notion that former President Bill Clinton just happened to run into Attorney General Loretta Lynch. On the tarmac. In a private plane.

When you pontificate that one is promoting the notion that either you win or you were cheated, be honest and point out that the losing candidates in 2016 and 2020 did just that. Only one attacked the office of the presidency with relentless false accusations and the other incited an attack on the Capitol. Create unity by promising to accept the results of the 2022 and 2024 elections without question and say you will use the power of your office to insist all candidates do the same.

Unite Behind a Call for Democracy

Mr. Biden said Americans need to unite behind a call for democracy. Indeed, we do. Our form of democracy, a constitutional republic, is only possible if rules are for everyone.

As our president stated, “equality and democracy are under assault” because “what’s not normal is Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans,” who, by Mr. Biden’s own assessment, are “not even a majority of Republicans” and at the same time “there is no question that the Republican party is dominated by Donald Trump & the MAGA republicans”.

Without contesting any of the above, why not follow this up with “and we are confident that this scourge will be defeated at the ballot box.” That would be more in keeping with the purely political speech the president delivered, but that fact that neither he nor his party seem confident of how voters might choose, he could not or would not go there.

Instead, hitting the vitriol button with all the force he could muster, President Biden spewed the requisite talking points, “MAGA doesn’t respect constitution,” and “MAGA wants to drag country backward,” because “(MAGA) Promote authoritarian leaders and fan violence” to “(MAGA) wants to stop rule of law”. I understand that this rhetoric is great fodder for the base of Team Blue, whose most ardent supporters seem to have no limits to their ability to be fearful.

The GOP has strayed far from its base beliefs and core principals into an undefinable and mostly directionless blob. Mr. Biden’s words confirm that the belief of Democratic Party icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s admonition that we have nothing to fear but fear itself is an artifact of a party that has also long since lost its moorings. I’d like to imagine that had FDR given the speech and said that “Trump & MAGA Republicans are a clear and present danger to American Democracy,” his next statement would be to call on all citizens to learn and exercise their constitutional responsibilities to render these enemies of the state powerless. Instead, our president leaves us wondering what might come next. Purges? Crushing all dissent because it may lead to violence? Redefining silence as violence?

And In Conclusion

While CNN chyrons ironically backpedaled from earlier information about COVID policies, the president paid little heed to the things that trouble Americans. Rumors of food shortages, impending wars and the harsh realities of energy costs and inflation are left unmentioned.

To put a painful coda on the speech, the president boasted that he and his party had passed the “Most important climate initiative ever,” without mentioning the irony that the inflation-fueling legislation is not captioned as climate action, but called the “Inflation Reduction Act.” With weapons-grade gaslighting, he described in just a few words why the Democratic Party is failing as an alternative to the insufferable Donald J. Trump.

If, as it is clear and as you say Mr. President, that Trump and the MAGA Republicans aren’t even a majority of a minority party, then wouldn’t the content of your political speech be simply, “we will defeat them at the polls”?

Otherwise, you want nonpartisans like me to choose between a red MAGA hat or raising my clenched fist while saluting you. This writer will do neither.  

Onward.