Using the F-word

Amanda Marcotte praises President Biden for acknowledging what most people avoid saying out loud.

What we're seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It's not just [Fuckface], it's the entire philosophy that underpins the — I'm going to say something — it's like semi-fascism.

Marcotte argues that an honest discussion of the threat to democracy needs to be blunt.

Yes, a lot of Republicans are not personally invested in a fascist ideology but are merely conservatives who go along with [Dear Leader] to maintain their own power.

The first step to getting people to wake up is chipping away at the wall of denial that fascism could happen in America. Just hearing the word used a lot in respect to American politics will help whittle away that defensive head-in-the-sand reaction.

Update (August 29):  Heather Digby Parton notes that toadies such as Senator Lindsey Graham are echoing Dear Leader's threats.

The fact that [Fuckface] is leveraging this particular power to incite violence around these legal cases is a sign of weakness. He cannot persuade anyone who isn't already persuaded and party officials are with him only out of fear or as long as he is useful to them. Calling for riots in the streets is a nuclear option that may or may not detonate the way he thinks it will. But it has the potential to blow the country apart either way.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre points out that Graham's "riots in the streets" comment proves Biden's point.

We have seen MAGA Republicans attack our democracy. We have seen MAGA Republicans take away our rights. Make threats of violence, including this weekend [by Senator Graham], and that is what the president was referring to when you all asked me last week about the "semi-fascism" comment.

Update (August 31):  Amanda Marcotte argues that prosecution is the best way to counter threats of violence.

[Fuckface] is leveraging the fears of another January 6 — or worse — in hopes that it will intimidate law enforcement into backing down and letting him commit crimes, even possible espionage, in peace.

[Dear Leader's supporters are] entranced by his apparently bottomless power to rewrite reality and force others, including federal law enforcement, to kowtow to his lies. ... [But that] power is built on sand. Once his backers feel he's lost his magical ability to impose his will over reality, they will stop being so into him.

And John Stoehr defends Biden's language.

If the president says some of the Republicans are fascist, and that the soul of democracy is at stake in the coming midterms, that probably indicates that he believes a majority of Americans is behind him. (It indicates, especially, that respectable white people are behind him.) I can’t imagine him using the "f-word" if he thought for a millisecond that using it jeopardized the Democrats’ majorities in the Congress.

Update (September 1):  William Saletan also defends using the "f-word".

Biden was right. Many of the ideas and tactics deployed by [Dear Leader] and his apologists, including those who decry Biden’s comparison, fit the dictionary definition of fascism.

[His] cult includes many components common to previous fascist movements—paranoia, fantastic lies, anti-intellectualism, a mythologized national past, selective appeals to law and order, and propaganda about enemies of the state.

Saletan describes many instances falling under that definition. Using "emergency powers to override the will of Congress" over the border wall. Discussions to seize voting machines. Endorsing calls for political violence. Attempting to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Embracing authoritarian leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. As usual, the Right points to the Left as the real fascists.

Update (September 2):  President Biden didn't use the "f-word" again, but he did give a warning.

For a long time, we've reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us. MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people and refuse to accept the results of a free election.

Heather Digby Parton isn't at all surprised by the resulting GOP hissy fit.

[Referring to Biden as] Satanic, Hitler, Nazi, that's all fine. Just don't call [them] semi-fascist. That would be wrong, very wrong.

And Amanda Marcotte critisizes journalists who boil everything down to partisanship.

Do they level with their readers and tell them Biden is telling the unvarnished truth? Or do they sidestep the issue of what is true, in favor of the usual "he said/he said" coverage that refuses to adjudicate, even when one side is plainly lying?

Update (September 7):  Paul Street doesn't hesitate to call out fascists--no "semi" required. He takes issue with Biden's basic remedy of merely voting for Democrats.

Do what you want for two minutes in a ballot booth once every two and/or four years but the historical record is clear as day: in the absence of militant people's movements beneath and beyond the holy ruling class electoral spectacles, nothing progressive is going to be achieved and Democrats in nominal power will consistently give way to officeholders from a major capitalist party that has crossed into fascist space.

Update (September 9):  Amanda Marcotte notes that 58 percent of Americans agree with the president's warning.

Biden is betting that a significant chunk of Republicans are harboring doubts about [Orangeman]. The polling suggests this suspicion has some merit. One out of four Republicans polled by Reuters agreed that [Dear Leader] and MAGA are a threat to democracy. True, that's only a minority of Republicans and far from the "mainstream" of the party. But Republicans still need those voters to win elections. If they start to lose some of those folks because of [Fuckface], it could go a long way towards weakening [his] power and derailing the MAGA movement.