The president versus the court

Joe Biden’s best days may be behind him, but the president’s talent for feigning moral outrage is undiminished. That much was clear from the president’s reaction to Supreme Court decisions in the last few days, in particular his remarks in response to the court’s rulings on affirmative action and his administration’s student debt forgiveness program.

This week has served as a reminder that Biden is a president who knows his survival depends on drawing the most demagogic caricature of his opponents he can get away with.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Biden said the verdict on affirmative…

Joe Biden’s best days may be behind him, but the president’s talent for feigning moral outrage is undiminished. That much was clear from the president’s reaction to Supreme Court decisions in the last few days, in particular his remarks in response to the court’s rulings on affirmative action and his administration’s student debt forgiveness program.

This week has served as a reminder that Biden is a president who knows his survival depends on drawing the most demagogic caricature of his opponents he can get away with.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Biden said the verdict on affirmative action was further evidence that this court was “not normal,” and painted it as part of a trend of fringe, hardline positions taken by the court in which they once again overturned well-established precedent. Never mind that the court has gone back and forth on the question of affirmative action over the years. Never mind that the majority of Americans take the side of the court and think that affirmative action is not a justifiable form of discrimination. Never mind that the lead opinions in both cases came from the moderate chief justice, John Roberts.

Biden — and every other Democrat I have seen react to the affirmative action decision — has spoken with absolute moral certainty on the question. “We cannot let this decision be the last word,” he said. In a later interview, Biden evoked the Civil War, implying the ruling was “giving states power that we fought a war over.” Are we supposed to take this hyperbole seriously? You wouldn’t know it from the monotonous statements of elected officials, but only a slender majority of Democratic voters support affirmative action.

Missing from Democrats’ statements is any acknowledgement of room for reasonable disagreement, any introspection about the pros and cons of affirmative action or the meaning of the decision, any grace or statesmanship. In a softball interview on MSNBC yesterday, Biden said that the verdict was contrary to the words of the Declaration of Independence (although he claimed they were in the Constitution), that “all men are created equal.” Of course, the justices in the majority cherish those words, and (for good reason) believe their decision is entirely in keeping with them.

Contrast the comments from Biden and other Democrats in the past thirty-six hours with the last Democratic president. Barack Obama felt comfortable enough to wonder out loud whether it was right that his daughter get preferential treatment ahead of a working-class white kid.

Similar moral certainty was on display from Biden this afternoon, when he reacted to the Supreme Court reaching the unsurprising conclusion that his administration’s student loan forgiveness program is unconstitutional. Once upon a time (last year), Biden himself was reportedly concerned about the legality of the program. He also worried, for good reason, that using working-class Americans’ tax dollars to write off the debts of the college-educated wasn’t a good look. Today, he described the decision as “unbelievable” and announced plans to pursue other obscure powers through which he might be able to keep the taps on for the (overwhelmingly Democratic) graduate class.

Biden thinks he is unlikely to pay an electoral penalty for overdoing his attacks on the court. He thinks his job between now and November 2024 is to keep Democratic-leaning voters outraged and angry. Time will tell whether or not he is right.

On our radar

REPORT CRITICAL OF AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL A report into the administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan published today is sharply critical of the government. Senior US officials gave “insufficient senior-level consideration of worst case scenarios,” the report found.

WASHINGTON’S HORRIBLE BOSSES Marianne Williamson, the kooky self-help author turned Democratic presidential candidate, claims to know a thing or two about “dark psychic forces.” So far in this cycle, she seems to be directing those dark forces at her staff. Williamson has seen considerable turnover in her team since she announced her run. Of this churn, Williamson said, “Lincoln went through twelve generals before he got to Ulysses S. Grant.” Her third campaign chief starts work today. We’re rooting for you, Carlos Cardona!

TROUBLED ARTIST DOES CHILD SUPPORT DEAL A big win for Hunter Biden this week: he has agreed to financially support his child and give her a few of his paintings on the condition that she is not allowed to use his name.

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Not so proud to be an American

The number of US adults who say they’re extremely proud to be American “remains near record low,” according to a new Gallup poll.

Gallup asked, “How proud are you to be an American — extremely proud, very proud, moderately proud, only a little proud or not at all proud?” A mere 39 percent of respondents said they are “extremely proud” to be American. Last year, that number stood at 38 percent — the lowest ever recorded. The share of “extremely proud” Americans “started to drop in 2005, and extreme pride levels have been below 50 percent since 2018,” reports the Hill.

Gallup first started asking this question in January 2001. The polling company reports that at that time, “55 percent of US adults were extremely proud to be American. However, pride soon intensified after 9/11, with extreme pride ranging from 65 percent to 70 percent between 2002 and 2004. The percentage of Americans expressing extreme pride declined in 2005 and in subsequent years, but it remained at the majority level through 2017. Since 2018, extreme pride has consistently been below that, averaging 42 percent.”

Not surprisingly, party affiliation is a solid predictor in American pride, and Gallup reports, “Republicans have been consistently more likely than Democrats and independents to express pride in being American throughout the trend.” Still, it’s curious that with a Democrat in the White House and Democrats growing their majority in the Senate during the midterms, just 29 percent of Democrats report extreme pride in America, compared to 60 percent of Republicans.

As we approach Independence Day, perhaps Democrats and Republicans can put aside their differences and all be extremely proud to be American — at least for one day…

–Teresa Mull

Affirmative action overreaction

A tale in three tweets from former Biden campaign field organizer Erica Marsh (she/her).

June 29, 12:22 p.m.: “Today’s Supreme Court decision is a direct attack on Black people. No Black person will be able to succeed in a merit-based system which is exactly why affirmative-action based programs were needed. Today’s decision is a TRAVESTY!!!”

June 29, 9:15 p.m.: “Allow me to clarify this tweet, which is being manipulated for propaganda and misinformation by ULTRA MAGA.

“The intention of my tweet is to highlight that prior to affirmative action, there existed a supposedly merit-based system for Black individuals to gain admission to colleges. However, these institutions employed racial profiling to prevent Black individuals from attending under the guise of this ‘merit’ system.

“I want to emphasize that my statement in no way suggests that Black individuals are less intelligent than people of other races.”

June 29, 10:49 p.m.: “If anyone is a defamation lawyer who works on contingency, please DM me. Thanks.”

–Cockburn