Former President Bill Clinton told a cheering crowd that Republicans want Americans to be “miserable,” accusing the GOP of “making everybody feel like a victim.”
Clinton made the comments on Wednesday at a rally for Democrat congressional candidate Josh Riley in Hurleyville, New York.
“Republicans are pretty simple actually, and pretty straightforward,” Clinton declared. “They say, ‘I want you to be very miserable, and I want you to be very angry. And I want you to vote for us, and we’ll make it worse, but we’ll blame them.’”
“One of Clinton’s rule of politics is — and I’ve got a dozen of ’em, I used to share them all the time to try to lighten things up and also enlighten them — if you scratch nearly anybody long enough there’s still a person down there somewhere,” he continued. “And the Republicans have developed a theory of making everybody feel like a victim they think they can get to vote for them. Everybody’s a threat. It’s always their fault. It’s an us and them world.”
Clinton’s claim that the GOP wants voters to feel like victims comes as the Democratic Party has clung to identity politics for decades, appealing to various groups that they claim have been victimized, including blacks, LGBT people, and other minorities.
Clinton did admit one kernel of truth, acknowledging, “Here’s the truth; we do have too much inflation and we do have too much crime.”
Clinton’s claim that the GOP prefers an “us and them” world has tremendous irony, as President Joe Biden has resorted to divisive language during his presidency. In early September, Biden delivered a speech that was decried for its dark view of America.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said at the time.
“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country,” Biden continued. “MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies. Together, we can choose a different path.”
“The whiplash between Biden’s characterization of his political opponents and his calls for ‘unity’ aren’t hypocrisy,” political commentator Inez Stepman asserted. “He’s communicating that we – those who [dis]agree with his party – are outside the body politic and the bonds of citizenship. A scary speech for a scary time.”
