Insight

“The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.” —Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945)

Political Futures

“I’m shocked by the number of Republicans who continue indignantly scoffing at the prospect that Joe Biden could motivate 81 million citizens to vote for him in the last election. He didn’t. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that as many as 90% of Biden voters were driven to the polls in 2020 not to vote for him, but to vote against Trump. Whatever love and admiration Trump inspires among his loyal followers, he arouses even more resentment and hostility throughout the rest of the electorate, particularly with the all-important independent voters. So what smarter move could the Democrat Party standard-bearer make than to declare the upcoming election is about Trump and Trumpism, not about inflation, border crises, gas prices, and staggering cost of living increases?” —Peter Heck

Observations

“In his soul-crushing ‘soul of the nation’ speech, the president threw half the country back into Hillary Clinton’s basket of deplorables. Anyone who refuses to go along with his radical agenda that’s bankrupting the country is a threat. Anyone who stands up for religious liberty is an extremist. Anyone who is a voice for voiceless and vulnerable unborn babies is a danger to democracy. That’s the picture Biden painted of America. But his illustration of our country and her people couldn’t be more disconnected from reality. The truth is this speech was a feeble attempt to distract American voters from Democrats’ abysmal record heading into the midterms. … Americans are tired! Tired of the constant attacks. Tired of being told that their traditional values are extreme. Tired of being told to hate their neighbors or themselves. It’s time to turn the page on this cynical playbook of division. Our country is in desperate need of leaders who boldly tell the truth about who we are and who we can be.” —Senator Tim Scott

“Literally the only litmus test articulated by Biden for the difference between traitorous ‘MAGA extremists’ and normal Republicans, is that Joe Biden has worked with normal Republicans. Everyone else is, by definition, a MAGA extremist. ‘MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.’ If you’re pro-life, pro-Constitution, pro-marriage, you’re a traitor.” —Ben Shapiro

“If [Joe Biden] had delivered this speech about the leaders of China or Russia or Iran or transnational Islamist terrorist groups, [Thursday] night’s speech would be universally praised as a rousing rallying cry and metaphorical call to arms against a dangerous enemy. But in this speech, the enemy is … other American citizens. Also, he wants to unite the country.” —Jim Geraghty

“Hard to imagine a speech with less self-awareness than the one Biden gave. The exact opposite of what our country needed — in tone, in appearance, and in substance. This man simply isn’t fit to lead.” —Congressman Dan Crenshaw

“For the White House press secretary to say that this speech was not going to be political is pretty remarkable. This speech essentially was a convention speech.” —Bret Baier

“Joe Biden controls the House, the Senate and the White House (Big tech, the legacy media, the NGOs, the universities and Hollywood) but blames MAGA Republicans for his problems.” —former Acting DNI Richard Grenell

“You know what’s a threat to American democracy? Joe Biden unlawfully transferring $300 billion in student loan debt to the taxpayers as a political bribe.” —Senator Tom Cotton

Cleanup on Aisle 46

“I don’t consider any Trump supporter a threat to the country.” —Joe Biden, September 2 (“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” —Joe Biden, September 1)

“The presence of the Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect the president has for these service members, to these ideals, and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

Lack of Self-Awareness Award

“We’re all parsing The Speech, Joe Biden’s ‘Soul of the Nation’ address about the growing anti-constitutionalism of Republican extremism. … Indeed, I’m not sure it was strong enough. I bristled a bit when the president spoke of the reasonable Republicans with whom he could work. Who are these Republicans? Where are they?” —leftist Atlantic writer Tom Nichols, a hater who hilariously authors its newsletter “Peacefield”

D'oh!

“We have created nearly ten thousand million jobs since President Biden took office, which is the fastest job growth in history.” —Karine Jean-Pierre (“That’s 10 billion more than the entire population of the world. Amazing job!” —Dr. Eli David | “Honestly, she just needs to put on clown makeup before every press conference.” —Ned Ryun)

From the “Gross and Grosser” Files

“I was sitting on a couch, and the press was let in. There were a bunch of them shooting up. All of a sudden the White House gets alerted to these billboards that show me sitting down — I thought my legs were together — but the way it’s shot, it’s sort of suggestive. I just couldn’t deal with it, so I started wearing pants.” —Hillary Clinton explaining why, in 1995, she started wearing pantsuits (Apparently she likens her appeal to Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct.”)

And Last…

“The fact the President is walking back his comments on Republicans as threats and the White House is in a defensive posture over the use of Marines … really tells you everything you need to know about how the speech went over.” —Erick Erickson

“Yes let’s listen to the people who want to castrate children, execute infants minutes before birth, abolish the police and put pornography in elementary schools about the dangers of extremism. They are experts on the subject after all.” —Matt Walsh