Joe Biden’s daily redefinition of what he means by “MAGA” — which, mind you, he has defined as “semi-fascism” and “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic” — has now reached the point of self-parody. Biden tweeted this morning that
Republicans have pushed an ultra-MAGA agenda to:
—Threaten Social Security and Medicare
—Raise taxes on working families
—Give big corporations and billionaires tax breaks
Does that sound familiar? What was Joe Biden saying about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in 2012?
• “They are for massive cuts in Social Security for future generations.”
• “Gov. Romney proposes significant changes, that would result in beneficiaries getting considerably less in their Social Security check in the future . . . If Gov. Romney’s tax plan goes into effect, it could mean everyone, everyone, would have to pay more taxes on the Social Security benefits they now receive. The average senior would have to pay $460 more in taxes on their benefits.”
• “They’re pushing the continuation of a tax cut that will give an additional $500 billion in tax cuts to 120,000 families. And they’re holding hostage the middle-class tax cut because they say, we won’t pass — we won’t continue the middle-class tax cut unless you give the tax cut for the superwealthy.”
Leave aside the question of the accuracy of any of this — it’s Joe Biden, after all. He’s completely lost the plot. If “ultra-MAGA” means anything at all besides “Republican,” you’d expect it to be a term of distinction from the polite, suburban Republicanism of Romney and Ryan. Yet, Biden is using the exact same criticisms on the exact same issues. That suggests that he and his team know perfectly well that they’re just making the same old partisan election-year arguments and slapping a red hat on it.