In a day when our political fights are as nasty as ever, when the mood of the nation is less like a tinderbox and more like a powder keg, we look to voices of reason to help soothe us and to reconnect us with what Abraham Lincoln called, at the end of his first inaugural address, “the better angels of our nature.”

In Lincoln’s case, it didn’t work. In the months and years after he invoked those “better angels,” he prosecuted a war that preserved the union at a cost of 600,000 American lives. But still.

Rather than invoking fear, loathing, and distrust, a calming voice can help relieve the pressure and turn down the temperature. We might expect, for example, a nationally known pastor or priest to offer such words, as the Reverend Franklin Graham did last week in the wake of Donald Trump’s 34-count felony conviction in a banana-republican show trial: “Pray for our nation,” said Graham, “for God’s guiding hand that this republic will be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”

We might also look for a first lady to fill this void — to embody class and decency and transcend the political to help soothe her fellow Americans.

But not if that first lady is Jill Biden.

Last week, the nearest thing we have to a Lady Macbeth took to “The View” to denounce her husband’s political opponent and the party he represents as “evil.”

Jill Biden: “Those polls are gonna turn, I’m confident of it. As people start to focus a little bit more about what’s at stake, I believe that Americans are going to choose good over evil.” pic.twitter.com/JwcMEwDT32

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) May 29, 2024

We wonder: Could she be more specific? What exactly does Jill Biden mean by using that word? Does she mean “demonic”? Because it sure sounds like that’s what she means. Because refusing to enforce our nation’s laws, pitting one race against another, and promoting the lopping off of children’s body parts sure sounds like evil to us.

And it’s one thing for a candidate to use harsh rhetoric when referring to his political opponent. Donald Trump has hurled any number of insults at Joe Biden, and Biden and his surrogates have spared no expense in trying to brand Trump as unfit for office and an existential threat to our democracy. (It’s a republic, but whatever.)

But a candidate’s wife? And a first lady? What are people to make of this? What about those on the Angry Left? Do they listen to their leaders comparing their political opponents to Hitler and Mussolini and the devil himself, and take it with a grain of salt? Or do the deranged ones among them see these words as a call to action?

This is dangerous stuff, and a first lady should know better, and she should be better.

It wasn’t a mere slip of the tongue, either. Jill Biden was frantic. She was raising her voice and waving her arms. “And think of the Supreme Court!” she cried. “For God’s sake, talk about things getting worse. Can you imagine if we put any more Republicans on the Supreme Court?” Biden asked, her eyes wide. “No! We will lose all of our rights! So we’re talking about women’s rights, gay rights. … We will lose all our rights and freedoms.”

What “rights” are these? Our Nate Jackson recently posted a few of them: “The right to kill babies in the womb. The right to mutilate those who survive. The right to say [censored for political reasons]. The right to have your guns outlawed. The right to pay for someone else’s student loans and healthcare.”

Wednesday in Philadelphia, the same day Jill was appearing on “The View,” Joe Biden was shamelessly demonizing the High Court in front of a largely black audience: “If, in fact, we’re able to change some of the justices when they retire, and put in really progressive judges like we’ve always had [sic], tell me that won’t change your life when Trump justices are already gutting voting rights, overturning Roe, decimating Affirmative Action, and so much more.”

To all this his-and-hers hogwash from the Bidens, Fox News host and former federal prosecutor Trey Gowdy offered this case-by-case corrective: “I guess they forgot it was actually a Republican-appointed judge who wrote the Roe v. Wade opinion; it was a Republican-appointed judge who preserved Obamacare; it was a Republican-appointed judge who first dipped her toe into the Affirmative Action pool, and another one who put limits on the death penalty. It’s funny how exorcised the Left gets when anyone goes after a judge, except it’s fair game for the first lady to do it while she’s promoting a children’s book.”

What’s that? You didn’t know Jill Biden was there on “The View” to hawk a children’s book? It’s true. As the New York Post reports: “The first lady’s appearance on ‘The View’ was meant to promote her new children’s book, ‘Willow the White House Cat,’ which is slated for release on June 4. ‘It’s about the cat’s-eye view, from behind the scenes, about all the wonderful people that work in the White House,’ she said. ‘I wanted to say thank you to them for their acts of kindness because I think acts of kindness really matter in life.’”

It’s rich, isn’t it? Jill Biden calling a former president “evil” and talking about how “acts of kindness really matter in life.”