We had two big speeches from Washington last week.
Neither one was very encouraging for those of us who worry about our fragile democracy and the futures of our kids and grandkids.
Bibi Netanyahu gave a great speech in the House of Representatives, defending Israel’s war in Gaza and trying to rally support from U.S. politicians – i.e., Republicans, mostly.
Many Democrats stayed away from Bibi’s speech or cut out early, like Sen. Chuck Schumer.
They were afraid to offend the left-wing Democrats who have fractured their party by supporting the Palestinians in Gaza and arguing against further U.S. military aid for Israel.
Rashida Tlaib at least showed up, but she was spotted in the audience holding a sign that read “guilty of genocide” on one side and “war criminal” on the other.
Tlaib’s sign echoed those being carried by the “mostly peaceful” 2,000 anti-Israeli protestors outside, five of whom were arrested for breaking into the Capitol Building.
As for the Democrat Party’s brave and principled leaders, one was conspicuously absent – Vice President Kamala Harris.
The party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee couldn’t attend Bibi’s speech. Conveniently, she had to deliver a very important address to the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta.
President Joe Biden was AWOL, too.
While Bibi spoke, Biden was either having his nap or practicing his Wednesday night Oval Office speech where he explained to the nation why he was selflessly “handing the torch” to young Kamala.
I watched Biden’s “torch” speech. It was pitiful. He looked worse than he did in his disastrous TV debate with Trump. He could barely read the teleprompter.
The Biden hero-worshippers on “Morning Joe” saw a selfless hero and swallowed every word and cliche their beloved president said.
But I saw a sad man who’s not going to make it to the end of his term – or maybe not even to the convention.
Meanwhile, it drove me crazy on Wednesday to watch the vandalism being committed by the anti-Israeli protestors in Washington.
American flags were taken down and replaced with Palestinian flags at Washington’s Union Station. An American flag was set on fire by protestors. Pro-Hamas graffiti was everywhere.
Even the replica of the Liberty Bell outside the train station was defaced with hateful and obscene antisemitic graffiti. We know nothing will happen to the 200 rioters who were arrested in Washington.
On Thursday afternoon Harris – the person who helped bail out rioters in the “mostly peaceful” Summer of Love in 2020 – finally got around to condemning the “despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors.”
But there was little outrage from other top Democrat Party people and their friends in the major liberal media.
While our streets and campuses are crawling with leftwing protestors and pro-Palestine vandals, Democrats are still yammering about the “insurrection” of Jan. 6 and worrying about the existential threat Donald Trump supposedly poses to our democracy.
The Democrats constantly warn everyone about Trump being a wannabe dictator. But I’m tired of hearing them say they are trying to save democracy while they continue to step all over it.
I’ve seen what Democrats did to Biden — and it wasn’t very democratic.
He was no doubt threatened by his party’s bosses with the 25th Amendment – “Get out, Joe, or we’re gonna throw you out. Kamala’s moving in.”
Biden’s victimization by his own tribe was nothing new.
In 2016 Democrat chiefs screwed Bernie Sanders out of the nomination and put the fix in for Hillary.
In 2020 they made every other candidate step aside so Biden could win.
Now in 2024 they’ve essentially tossed a president out of office and replaced him with his VP – with no votes taken by anyone.
So don’t tell the Trump-deranged liberal media, but Democrats have been having their own insurrections for years.
They’ve been taking place behind closed doors, and they were decided by political insiders and Washington elites who are unknown to the public.
They’ve been scaring everyone that if Trump is reelected, there goes democracy. But guess what folks, in the Democrat Party it’s already gone.
Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. His column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.