With state and national polls showing him double digits ahead of President Donald Trump in the 2020 election matchup, Democratic nominee Joe Biden penned an op-ed for NBC News looking to widen that gap even more.
The headline declares Trump erodes America's foundation. This Fourth of July, I pledge to rebuild it. Biden invokes the phrase "All men are created equal" as the basis, on top of which is built a greater fight toward expanded equality and justice that serves everyone.
Biden writes:
"There has always been a push and a pull between our founding ideals and the forces of inequality. But Independence Day is a celebration of our persistent march toward greater justice — the natural expansion of our founding notion from 'all men are created equal' to 'all people are created equal and should be treated equally throughout their lives."
That sentiment didn't sit well with Republican National Committee spokeswoman Liz Harrington, who went to Fox News to decry the op-ed, only to say the quiet part out loud.
Watch below.
Harrington said:
"His party is trying to rewrite history, tear it all down. It's very fitting that Joe Biden, in this op ed, has the audacity to literally rewrite the greatest foundational document in the history of mankind — the Declaration of Independence. His woke staffers changed it to, not all 'men are created equal,' all 'people are created equal,' and are guaranteed equality throughout life."
After decrying the sentiment that all people are created equal, Harrington continued:
"That is not a constitutional republic that we were founded on, on freedom, of opportunity. That is the same radical left socialism that has taken over his party, that is really not just eroding our foundation, but rewriting it and out to destroy it."
Unlike Harrington would have viewers believe, Biden doesn't call for changing the words of the Constitution. He refers to the interpretation of "all men" to have a "natural expansion" to mean "all people." Thanks to progress forged by marginalized groups, this interpretation has become more and more common and gives many Americans a reason to hope. This was the entire argument of the op-ed.
Harrington's words were a continuation of the Republican strategy to paint Democrats as radicals determined to destroy American institutions and traditions. The hope is that instilling fear in the Republican voter base will translate to expanded Republican turnout on election day.
This time, it backfired.
People pointed out that were it not for this natural expansion that Biden praises, Harrington herself would be considered unequal to men.
Harrington hasn't addressed the statement yet.
