“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” said Joe Biden early on in his abominable speech last Thursday night.

That was the moment.

Joe Biden would go on to use the term “MAGA Republicans” 12 more times, but that very first utterance was the moment we wished those Marines, the ones who’d been disgracefully positioned behind the president, had simply said, “Enough,” and had broken their ceremonial parade-rest position, grabbed the board of ribbons and medals on their blue dress uniforms, ripped them off, thrown them to the ground, executed a smart facing movement, and exited the stage.

If only.

They’d have been in big trouble, of course, but they’d have made a resounding statement for decency, and they’d have been heroes to the 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump and were thereby smeared by Joe Biden.

It would’ve been one thing to use the Marines as props if this were a somber Memorial Day speech or an inspiring Independence Day address. But it wasn’t. It was a dark, divisive, fascistic, blood-red, Third-Reichy rant; an ugly, vicious, utterly unpresidential screed from Joe Biden, and he had no business co-opting and dragging the United States Marine Corps into it.

Indeed, as constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley noted: “The Marine Corps expressly forbids personnel from being used or participating in political events.” Turley then cited Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, which includes among its many prohibitions the attending of “partisan political events as an official representative of the Armed Forces.”

Not even the networks fell for it. They saw it as a purely political speech rather than a substantive address to the nation, and they refused to even air it.

Remarkably, the normally nasty CNN anchor Brianna Keilar saw it too: “Whatever you think of this speech,” she tweeted, “the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.”

Keilar’s CNN colleague, Jeff Zeleny, said much the same thing: “There’s nothing unusual or wrong with a President delivering a political speech — it’s inherent in the job description — but doing it against a backdrop of two Marines standing at attention and the Marine Band is a break with White House traditions.”

Good for them. But then came the invective from the Left. “You are clearly a shill for the RNC,” said one Twitter respondent. “Your sheets are showing,” said another. “They should be fired tonight,” said an unhinged Keith Olbermann.

All this could’ve been avoided, though, had Biden simply kept his word.

It was August 29, 2020, when the then-Democratic presidential nominee virtually addressed the National Guard Association of the United States’ general conference by putting words into Trump’s mouth about using the military to dominate “your fellow citizens for exercising their right to peacefully protest.”

But that wasn’t all Biden said. He also said, “We’re so much better than this. You deserve so much better.” He then called the separation between civilian and military powers “the bedrock principal of our republic.”

And he promised “It’s been tested lately, but I promise you, as president, I’ll never put you in the middle of politics or personal vendettas,” Biden said. “I’ll never use the military as a prop or as a private militia to violate rights of fellow citizens. That’s not law and order.”

But that’s exactly what Biden did last Thursday night. He used the United States Marine Corps as a prop.

And, once again, he lied to the American people.