by Frank Holmes, reporter
During the toughest year of his presidency and with a devastating loss looming in November’s midterm elections, President Joe Biden thought he’d found the silver bullet to focus America’s anger on the Republican Party.
This month, Biden began calling the GOP the “ultra MAGA” party. But the results weren’t exactly what he expected.
So far, his vicious attack line is incredibly popular… with Republicans.
Biden settled on his strategy to try to ward off historic losses in the House and Senate by branding the GOP as an extreme party whose strings are being pulled by President Donald Trump.
Biden blasted the “ultra MAGA agenda” and dubbed Trump “the great MAGA king” at a speech in Chicago in front of what the Associated Press describes as a “crowd of about 40” people.
It didn’t take long for Biden’s quip to backfire.
Within hours, the 45th president posted a picture of himself on Truth Social as a character from the Lord of the Rings with the words, “The Return of the Great MAGA King.”
Trump got more than bragging rights: His Save America PAC sent out a fundraiser offering a t-shirt with President Trump dressed as Superman emblazoned with the phrase “SUPERMAGA” for $45 each.
To make matters worse, Biden paid a research firm big money to conduct the six-month research study that came up with the “ultra MAGA” slogan—and then the White House got caught lying about it.
Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker reported last Friday that “Biden’s attempt to reappropriate ‘MAGA’ and ‘ultra MAGA’ was the result of a six-month research effort by liberal groups.”
The Democrats hired former Obama/Biden adviser Anita Dunn and the Soros-funded Center for American Progress to do the half-year-long study, which claims voters have a negative view of the term “MAGA,” which stands for “Make America Great Again.”
“There’s a very sound, databased research that the term ‘MAGA’ is repellant to swing voters,” an anonymous official close to the Biden White House told NBC News.
But Republicans have opted to wear the phrase as a badge of honor.
“Who doesn’t want to make America great again?” asked Cliff Sims, who served in President Trump’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“Maybe it would have been better if Democrats had instead spent those six months preventing American children from going hungry because we are out of formula,” wrote former Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
“Only pros could be so dumb,” wrote conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter. Washington Examiner columnist Byron York said that Trump’s 2024 campaign could have “four donor levels — which will you be? MAGA? Big MAGA? Super MAGA? Ultra MAGA?”
Only pros could be so dumb https://t.co/vr9tefUn62
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) May 13, 2022
Republicans and Democrats alike couldn’t believe that experts received campaign donations to come up with a phrase that blew up in their faces in less than 24 hours.
“It’s hilarious,” Republican political adviser Curt Anderson told NBC News. “It’s almost like they are trying to harm themselves.”
A Democratic fundraiser told the media the phrase “sounds silly, and it’s elevating and proliferating MAGA and Trump.”
Some on the Left were willing to tear into the Democratic consultants publicly. Left-wing activist David Sirota tweeted it seemed “super normal that it took the Veep characters in DC six months – and tons of spending on busybody politicos – to figure this out.” Others jokingly said that they wanted a piece of the action: “How do I land a job at one of those Democratic Party slogan factories?” asked far-left activist Lindsay Ballant. Glenn Greenwald called the big-spending failure “the most liberal thing ever.”
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1525233088137031683
Even worse, the Biden administration got caught red-handed lying about who invented the anti-Trump epithet.
“Who came up with this phrase, ‘ultra-MAGA’?” asked an ABC reporter last Tuesday.
“I will tell you it is the president’s phrase, and the president made those comments himself,” replied Jen Psaki during one of her last press briefings. She said Joe Biden decided to add “a little ‘ultra’ to” the word MAGA, which “gave it a little extra pop.”
White House press sec. Jen Psaki tells @MaryKBruce that Pres. Biden came up with new "ultra-MAGA" label himself because he is struck by “how extreme some of the policies and proposals are that a certain wing of the Republican Party…are advocating for.” https://t.co/8GJN4s4cV2 pic.twitter.com/cDqrZv13rQ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 10, 2022
It turns out Republicans are popping extra dollars into Trump’s campaign fundraisers, thanks to the DNC’s focus-group-tested sloganeering.
“Part of the power of the online movement for Trump is they’re just having a great time,” said Sims.
MAGA Republicans are having fun, and Democratic consultants are laughing all the way to the bank.
But Joe Biden and his party may end up with the Red Wave blues this November, as a new class of “ultra MAGA” Republicans take control of Congress—and possibly pave the way for the return of the “great MAGA king” in two years.
It looks like Biden shot himself in the foot with his silver bullet.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”