If you were a cautious political operative taking the nation’s pulse online, you might advise President Biden not to poke the MAGA bear. Political expediency and caution might suggest notions like lowering the vocal support volume — if not the actual legislative support — for hotly divisive issues like transgender rights, abortion rights, and other concerns that get MAGA hot and vituperative.
But Biden either has no such adviser in his ear or he isn’t listening to them. The lifelong liberal seems instead to be operating as if MAGA isn’t a problem, with a belief — right or wrong — that the constituencies in favor of his policies are bigger, if not louder, than their opponents.
Take the video below, which seems almost perfectly designed to provoke his detractors. Biden, who has vowed over the objections of many in the GOP (including Donald Trump and Ted Cruz) to continue to “fight for a path to citizenship” for Dreamers, here announces that he’s doing something for the Dreamers while they wait — hooking them up with health care.
“Today, my Administration is announcing our plan to expand health coverage for Dreamers, the thousands of young people brought to the U.S. as kids.”
Today, my Administration is announcing our plan to expand health coverage for Dreamers, the thousands of young people brought to the U.S. as kids.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 13, 2023
We’re not done fighting for their pathway to citizenship, but we’re getting them the opportunities they deserve in the meantime. pic.twitter.com/4eqNMMNxtt
For the MAGA adherents who feel underserved by their government already, this is interpreted as yet another example of putting still another group in line before them. Biden becomes, in their view, not just an internationalist abroad — helping Ukraine and the like — but a welcoming host of immigrants at home, something the MAGA faithful isn’t keen on.
And it comes just a day after the Biden administration launched another program that is triggering for MAGA — ambitious government regulation in service to a commitment to clean energy and shift away from fossil fuel use in vehicles.
Today, my Administration is announcing new proposed emissions standards for cars and trucks that would cut our CO2 emissions by nearly 10 billion tons and improve the health of millions – all while saving folks money.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 12, 2023
That’s nearly twice the United States’ yearly emissions. pic.twitter.com/yH1W4eUeyv
