In 2017, NPR published a series of tweets on July 4 with the text of the Declaration of Independence. It seemed like a simple, patriotic gesture to help celebrate our Independence Day. A surprising number of Republicans didn’t quite see it that way.
The more NPR published portions of the Declaration of Independence, the more mainstream conservatives — who apparently didn’t recognize the words of the document — assumed the media was publishing anti-Trump “propaganda.”
“A prince whose character is thus marked by every act that can define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people,” read one tweet, which caused particular outrage from the right, which assumed that the mission was aimed against the then government. Republican president.
It was an early reminder, just six months into Donald Trump’s term, that many of his followers, when confronted with core American principles, would simply assume this was an anti-Trump criticism.
For example, in 2016, Barack Obama spoke at an event at Pearl Harbor and told attendees, “Even when hatred burns the fiercest, even when the tug of tribalism is at its most primitive, we must resist the urge to inward to turn. We must resist the urge to demonize those who are different.” Trump naturally assumed that the Democratic president was directing the comments at him.
Five years later, George W. Bush delivered remarks in Pennsylvania, from the field where Flight 93 crashed. “There seems to be a malevolent force at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures,” the former president said. “Much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment.” Trump also saw this as a personal attack.
And while there were plenty of other similar examples, the issue came back to the fore late last week when President Joe Biden gave a pair of speeches in France to mark the anniversary of D-Day. The incumbent Democrat did not say his predecessor’s name, but Biden did celebrate democracy and American alliances while condemning tyranny, authoritarianism and isolationism.
Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida called the comments “disgusting.” A Fox Business host also accused the Democrat of “taking veiled shots” at Trump. As New York magazine’s Jon Chait noted, some other prominent voices in conservative media had similar reactions.
As we discussed last week, I take circumstances into account. In the United States, election season has arrived and the incumbent president is about to take part in the vote, which he will share with his immediate predecessor – who is increasingly brazen about his open affinity for authoritarians and authoritarianism. When Biden defends and celebrates democracy, his words do not exist in a political vacuum; they have a broader meaning.
But given what the Democrat actually said, and the principles the president proclaimed, some on the right are saying more than they meant in their complaints and condemnations of Biden’s innocuous, patriotic rhetoric.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
