There’s a general consensus on the Right. Biden’s State of the Union address was a nasty campaign speech. Among establishment shills, though, comes predictable silliness. Bill Scher at the Washington Monthly claimed that Joe’s rant was the “fiercest” such speech in history. Biden is at peak warrior, suggested Scher. Joe proved that “age is nothing but a number.”

Never mind all the contrary public evidence. Joe is a shuffling ditz who on Thursday night benefited from a cocktail of meds that would put umph! into a sloth. In fact, Joe came across like a hophead much of the night.

Biden’s speech? It was undoubtedly penned by radicalized, 20-something Harvard alumni who regard war talk as, well, a chance to show that Joe’s testosterone hasn’t frittered away like Mars’ atmosphere. Oh, and war talk it was.

Joe opened his remarks firing shots across Putin’s bow and the bows of homegrown deplorables -- you know, the rabble of rural Whites who dare own bibles and guns, and Christian “nationalists,” who share the founders’ awful conviction that our rights derive from God, not man. Flippin’ insurrectionists, man!

Biden’s rhetoric was part -- but only part -- gamesmanship. His handlers need to rev-up chunks of the party’s base, including spouseless females, while luring back menopausal suburban women. After eight years of hysterics and hate, rank-in-file hysterics and haters are a tad exhausted. They aren’t showing enough intensity about old Joe’s reelection bid. So, time to fearmonger and rattle sabers.

For the establishment -- which Democrat, Inc., is a subsidiary -- enemies are foreign and domestic, Putin and flyover denizens. Put those together and Joe sounded like elites hanker for more than war. They hanker for Armageddon -- if all else fails.

Watching our 46^th president, I fondly recalled Dr. Strangelove’s General Buck Turgidson. I wondered: “Is this guy really suggesting world war and civil war at the same time? Isn’t one or the other terrible enough?”

Here’s the transcript of Biden’s address, per USA Today, March 8. The salient points from Joe’s opener have been excerpted. If Joe doesn’t come across as unhinged to you, triple scoops of your favorite flavors at one of Joe’s Delaware haunts are on me. Declared Joe:

In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation.

He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.” 

Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe. 

President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.

Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. 

Let’s set aside Joe’s megalomania. Does anyone this side of Martha’s Vineyard believe we’re in a time anything remotely like 1941? Not the movie, but the real thing. Right. Putin’s tanks have cut a swath across Western Europe. Wasn’t that Vlad visiting Napoleon’s tomb?

But banging the drum for world war wasn’t enough. No, no. Juiced up Joe dropped the Buck Turgidson persona in favor of his firebrand Democrat forebear John C. Calhoun. He made a nifty transition from global to domestic conflict. He said:

My message to President Putin is simple.

We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. 

History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th. 

Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy. 

Many of you were here on that darkest of days. 

We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. 

They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. 

January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. 

But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed. 

But we must be honest the threat remains and democracy must be defended. [italics added]

Remember the QAnon Shaman rampaging through the Capitol! Seize Trump! Suspend elections! Send Antifa and BLM hither to smite insurrectionists! Oh, the humanity!

For flailing Joe, the Democrats’ Sovietized version of democracy needs to be defended like Calhoun and 1860 Democrats defended states’ rights, which was cover for protecting slavery.

Joe’s speech was reckless, not fierce. Biden’s rant was like a dumbed-down version of American Psycho. Its bellicosity revealed desperation. Need I remind anyone that desperate people are capable of committing desperate acts? What say Trump beats the cheat this autumn. If you’ve entered 2024 with gobs of unease, you should.

Elites are in a snit. Bona fide conservative House Republicans are throwing a wrench into sending yet more billions to Ukraine. The border gets next to nada dinero because Democrats are importing constituents and voters by the millions. Stalwart conservatives are properly irate. Yet, Ukraine’s finest must get their skim before the bulk of earmarked dollars are siphoned off to U.S. defense contractors, who, in turn, give a little lovin’ to D.C. elites. It’s the blessed cycle of Washington corruption.

If you didn’t notice, Victoria Nuland just resigned at the State Department -- yeah, she lost a power struggle. Some watchers suggest Nuland’s departure is a sign that the D.C. defense and foreign policy establishment is grudgingly accepting that Ukraine is a no-win. The architect of the Ukraine fiasco is none other than sourpuss Vicky. A pivot to China seems next up, but not before squeezing whatever last drop of advantage that comes with “defending democracy” in war-ravaged Ukraine.

So, what have we learned about wannabe tyrants, Liz Cheney, and Democrats? When the people start to turn against you -- and back Trump -- find scapegoats. Scapegoat the aforementioned rural Whites and Christians. Scapegoat parents who show up at school board meetings because they don’t want smut peddled to their kids in classrooms. Scapegoat peaceful abortion protesters. And keep bashing MAGA Americans. Who’s up next for the guillotine? Whoever is necessary, that’s who.

Here’s the last slice from Biden’s opener. Exclaimed Joe:

And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win. 

As I’ve done ever since being elected to office, I ask you all, without regard to party, to join together and defend our democracy! 

Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic. 

Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear -- political violence has absolutely no place in America! 

History is watching. 

And history is watching another assault on freedom. [italics added]

History is indeed watching.

There was something of cornered rat in Biden’s speech. The establishment seems to be losing its grip. The rabble whom they despise are getting wise. Will a highly combustible mixture of desperation, cynicism, and hate drive the establishment, Democrats, and allied groups to take actions that more greatly endanger Americans’ welfare and safety? In some grotesque mash of delusion and opportunism, will the ruling elite suspend democracy to “save democracy?”

So much is happening that we know nothing for sure. We do know this, though: Back Trump as if the Republic’s life depends on it, because listening to Biden, it does. Like Boy Scouts, be prepared. And pray to the Almighty like our rights and liberty depend on His divine intervention, because they do.

J. Robert Smith can be found at Gab, @JRobertSmith. He blogs occasionally at Flyover. He’s returned to X. His handle there is @JRobertSmith1.

Image: Gage Skidmore