Democrats are now talking about “saving democracy.” “Democracy” technically means that if we’re all in a room together and we want to make a decision, we all vote on that specific decision. A republic means you have representatives, which means you don’t vote directly on many of the decisions that are being made. Instead, you delegate the power to vote on those decisions to a representative government. Typically, that representative government has a series of checks and balances. The United States is a republic. It is not a direct democracy. It’s a democracy in the broader sense, which is that we vote. But it’s not a democracy in the technical sense in which you vote on every issue or in which a pure majoritarian popular will decides every single issue. In fact, the founders decried exactly such a system. They saw that as what they would call a mobocracy. They didn’t want just a series of referenda on every single issue to go to the popular vote, which is why intervening institutions in the government exist. It’s why Congress is represented on a popular level, but the Senate was originally supposed to be represented at the state level by the state legislatures. Originally, state legislatures were supposed to pick their senators. It’s why the Senate itself is not proportional; Montana and California have the same number of senators. It is why a series of checks and balances between the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary exist. It is why an electoral college exists. There are all sorts of institutions in our republic that are designed to check excesses of the mob. That was very much at the forefront of the founders’ concerns, as is evidenced by the Federalist Papers. WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show Why is that important? Because a shift in the way people thought of democracy in the United States took place, which started in the late 19th century as a take-away from German progressivism. Much of modern American government, our structures, particularly the administrative state, are drawn from it. Woodrow Wilson, who was the dean of Princeton University before he became the President of the United States, greatly admired that system. He wrote extensively about German progressivism and his vision for what democracy should look like. He believed that the Constitution of the United States had outlived its sell-by date, that the Constitution’s checks and balances were useless. Wilson, a Democrat, wanted something that was both more democratic and less democratic: He wanted a popular vote for one man who would make all the decisions with the help of administrative bureaucrats who were experts on the issues. In other words, he wanted a government of expertise. He believed all the checks and balances thwarted that government. In 1908, he famously wrote, “The President is at liberty, both in law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will set the limit; and if Congress be overborne by him, it will be no fault of the makers of the Constitution, it will be from no lack of constitutional powers on its part, but only because the President has the nation behind him, and Congress has not.” In other words, the president is elected by the public, effectively speaking, which means he should have as much power as humanly possible. That was important to Woodrow Wilson because he believed in the setup of the administrative state, an entire branch of the government that was effectively independent of the popular will. When Democrats say democracy, this is what they mean. They do not mean that they respect the institutions of the Republic. They don’t respect the Supreme Court of the United States except when it is giving them precisely what they want. The Democrats like to say the word “democracy” because they want to portray Donald Trump as an incipient fascist. But it is actually Joe Biden who is hell-bent on undermining the actual democratic republic. CNN, which is hosting the first presidential debate, interviewed several Trump supporters and asked about him undermining democracy. The Trump supporters correctly responded that we don’t live in a democracy; we live in a republic, which is true. We live in a representative democracy with a series of checks and balances that thwart the popular will on a regular basis. CNN tried to say it’s very bad to say that we live in a republic, not a democracy. They interviewed author Anne Applebaum, who said: These words were used in different ways in the 18th century. And it’s true, the Founders didn’t want direct democracy, by which they meant people gathering on the town square. They wanted representative democracy. But I think the reason why this conversation about language has risen now is because there is a part of the Republican Party that would like to rule as a minority, and they need an excuse for why that’s okay. And so they have begun to say, we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic. It’s not 100% clear what that means, but I think they mean, we want Donald Trump to be able to do whatever he wants. This is truly Orwellian because it’s total projection. The people who want the president of the United States to do whatever he wants without any checks and balances are typically Democrats. So with the polls indicating Trump is winning, Democrats are already preparing to do what they want to do: subvert the institutions of the Republic. They are looking to subvert the democratic institutions of the Republic. They are looking to subvert the legislature. They’re looking to subvert the presidency. They’re looking to subvert the courts. In an article titled, “The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started,” the New York Times stated: Opponents of Donald J. Trump are drafting potential lawsuits in case he is elected in November and carries out mass deportations, as he has vowed. One group has hired a new auditor to withstand any attempt by a second Trump administration to unleash the Internal Revenue Service against them. Democratic-run state governments are even stockpiling abortion medication. A sprawling network of Democratic officials, progressive activists, watchdog groups and ex-Republicans has been taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency, drawn together by the fear that Mr. Trump’s return to power would pose a grave threat not just to their agenda but to American democracy itself. Understand how Orwellian that is. They are saying they need to do non-democratic things to save democracy. They need to burn down the village in order to save the village. One of the actions they are going to take is to stack the administrative state. The Times continued, writing: Interviews with more than 30 officials and leaders of organizations about their plans revealed a combination of acute exhaustion and acute anxiety. Activist groups that spent the four years of Mr. Trump’s presidency organizing mass protests and pursuing legal challenges, ultimately helping channel that energy into persuading voters to oust him from power in 2020, are now realizing with great dread they may have to resist him all over again. … The Biden administration pushed through a flurry of regulations in the spring, meeting a deadline to ensure that those rules could not be summarily overturned next year under a 1996 law if Mr. Trump wins the election and Republicans take total control of Congress. This is a thwarting of democracy. It is hilarious to watch all the same people who are shouting to the rafters about the evils of Trump and his attacks on democracy now attempting all the same measures that they say Republicans should never attempt. This is how the Left thinks of our institutions, that they own these institutions. Any outside threat to these institutions, including the future boss of the institution, must be destroyed. This is stealing democracy: actively setting up structures that prevent the fundamental working order of the government, so long as the Republican is the person who is running the government.

He can be seen grabbing money out of the register while the other alleged robber pistol whips the worker

'Drug traffickers increasingly have partnered with Chinese underground money exchanges'

Dickie V. is coming back

'They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death [March]’

'No basis in law'

'I’ve cut the deficit by over one trillion dollars'

'Undermine taxpayer investments'

If Republicans want to win, it’s time to go on offense.

The Left’s media narrative factory is working overtime on its latest and greatest attempt at gaslighting. OK, here it is, here’s the whopper you have to believe to be an ally of “our democracy” in good standing: President Joe Biden is fit as a fiddle, yes siree. All those videos you’ve seen of him staring into space, moving awkwardly, falling, garbling words, shaking hands with the air, forgetting names, describing recent conversations with people who’ve been dead for years, and being led around by handlers like a child? Just fake news. Here’s White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters Monday that every video you’ve seen of the president looking “frail” and “confused” is nothing but a “cheap fake.” (This was an apparent spin on a “deepfake,” a digitally enhanced video that’s hard to distinguish from reality.) BREAKING: KJP claims that the videos of Joe Biden freezing are "cheap fakes” and “manipulated” videos.“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” -George Orwellpic.twitter.com/m38AzgzSoC— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 17, 2024 Jean-Pierre quotes The Washington Post, supposedly to debunk these videos and never actually says that they’ve been digitally altered. How convincing. I think I’ll personally start using “cheap fake” as a new-fashioned phrase to replace “Orwellian.” It now means that a regime apparatchik is telling me I need to stop believing in something I can clearly see with my own eyes but is demanding I turn off my brain to ignore it. It couldn’t be more obvious that the White House and its Democrat media allies think that Biden’s health issues—I know I’m not supposed to say that, but bear with me here in the realm of reality—are a big problem politically. They also know that the crisis is escalating. Sure, sometimes Biden seems sort of all right, but even at his best, the president is noticeably slower than he was a few years ago, even six months ago. The number of odd incidents seems to be growing. First, The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy, damning piece in early June highlighting that Biden has shown signs of slipping “behind closed doors.” Now I know what you’re thinking: “What, he hasn’t been showing signs of slipping in public?” Obviously, he has. Biden’s declining health has been a problem since he ran for president in 2020. It’s been worsening since then, as age-related decline is wont to do. But when The Wall Street Journal weighs in, it’s different. It’s a signal that media elites no longer can ignore or dismiss the problem outright. Biden’s media friends went into attack mode in an attempt to smear the Journal, of course, along with pretty much anyone who would dare suggest that something is wrong with the president. But the bad news kept coming. New videos of Biden behaving strangely have surfaced almost daily. At an early Juneteenth celebration June 10 outside the White House, the president appeared to be frozen in place with a bizarre grin while everyone around him danced. – Man in a dress front and center at Biden’s Juneteenth celebration.– Biden looking lost, staring into space like a zombie.Looks about right for the Biden admin. pic.twitter.com/efN2hbyUcv— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 11, 2024 Biden looked particularly bad at events in France commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which took place just days after the Journal published its piece. In one instance, Biden seems to be hesitantly moving to sit down during a ceremony with French President Emmanuel Macron and awkwardly freezing in place. The Associated Press, bless its heart, appears to have a “contextualize all the times Biden looks weird and ancient” beat; the wire service fact-checked video of the incident. You might be seeing a clip on social media that appears to show President Biden trying to sit in a chair that isn't there. However, this video doesn't show the full context of the moment.AP breaks down the moment. pic.twitter.com/Ovsjdlrbbl— The Associated Press (@AP) June 7, 2024 Does the fact that Biden was trying to sit in a chair rather than no chair matter much here? The problem is that he seemed to hover in a semi-squat onstage for an absurdly long time. He doesn’t look right and anyone watching it can tell. It got worse. In another video that went viral, Biden and a group of other world leaders are observing military parachutists land all around them. Biden suddenly wanders off before being gently brought back to the group by Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. President Biden appeared to wander off at the G7 summit in Italy, with officials needing to pull him back to focus. https://t.co/M50eobWwHr pic.twitter.com/Uaw1etcUB8— New York Post (@nypost) June 13, 2024 Biden’s media white knights leaped in to “correct” the record, saying that Biden actually wandered off to talk to parachutists just out of the camera shot and that the New York Post and other media outlets were “liars!” for posting the videos without that context. But the media’s contextualizing doesn’t really make the situation look any better. The problem isn’t just that Biden often seems to wander. It’s the way he wanders and the reactions of those around him. Then came, in my mind, the most damning and symbolic video. At a big Democrat Party fundraiser over the weekend, Biden seemed to freeze again onstage. Was he just basking in the adulation and applause of the crowd? I guess that’s one interpretation. But the weird pause is not the biggest problem here. What makes this video really stick out is the way former President Barack Obama, who many suspect really pulls the strings in the White House, takes Biden by the wrist and essentially leads him offstage like a child. The Left and the media (but I repeat myself) are working overtime trying to debunk this- claiming that Obama didn’t lead Biden off stage. Unfortunately for them, it’s literally on video.Would be a shame if this went viral again! pic.twitter.com/1kGNMNqV4n— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 17, 2024 Anyone who has been around people who are elderly or in physical and mental decline understands what’s happening. Those around Biden are trying subtly to aid the president without embarrassing him, but the signs are hard to hide. The issue is that Biden isn’t just any average retiree in his twilight years. He’s expected to be the president of the United States, who has awesome responsibilities and whose judgment may decide the fate of millions. Yet the White House and corporate media are saying, “Don’t let your lying eyes deceive you. He’s fine, I tell you.” Here’s MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace, parroting Jean-Pierre as she argues that videos of Biden looking awful are all just a product of “right-wing media” that selectively edit videos to mislead viewers. .@NicolleDWallace?: “There’s a growing & insidious trend in right-wing media … to take highly misleading & selectively edited videos of Pres. Biden … and use those videos to spread messages virally to cast doubt on Pres. Biden’s fitness for office.” pic.twitter.com/Im5r6y9HDA— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 17, 2024 But there’s no evidence of actual tampering in any of these videos, and in some—like the Obama/Biden one—the full, wide shot looks worst of all. Biden partisans are even trying to turn the tables by saying that former President Donald Trump is the one who looks old and unwell. Here’s a photograph of Trump shaking hands with his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., while heading to a stage. Here is a photo of Trump having to hold someone’s hand to guide him off stage.I’m sure this will get just as much coverage as the daily “BiDeN oLd” story gets. pic.twitter.com/N4NxYqK4Ye— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 17, 2024 It doesn’t look anything like what we saw with Biden and Obama. Many point out that Trump is only three years younger than Biden, so any age concerns about Biden also should apply to Trump. But much to the media’s frustration, few are buying that. Not everyone ages the same way. For whatever reason, Biden is slipping sooner. It’s not hard to figure out. That’s why this whole thing is so devastating and why the Left’s gaslighting about Biden’s condition isn’t catching on. This isn’t a matter of policy or ideas, where one can turn to lies or sophistry to delude the public. You don’t need to be a constitutional lawyer or a policy wonk to see that Biden is in steep physical and mental decline. If Biden looks this bad in public, you can bet that the problem is much worse in private, as The Wall Street Journal reported. It’s why Republicans in Congress are right to demand the audio tapes of Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur over his possession of classified documents from his years as a senator and vice president. Hur decided not to bring charges against Biden because he is an “elderly man with a poor memory” and “diminished faculties.” Just how diminished is he? Given the demands on a modern American president, we should be concerned. If Biden really is out to lunch, then who is really running the executive branch?  The American people have a right to know. The post Media Is Gaslighting You About Biden’s Obvious Signs of Decline. Here’s Why It Won’t Work. appeared first on The Daily Signal.