Joe Biden has become increasingly frank and forthright in in his criticism of Donald Trump. In late August, Biden Biden spoke to Democratic Party donors, denouncing what he called an “extreme MAGA philosophy.”

“It’s not just Trump,” Biden said. “It’s the entire philosophy that underpins the—I’m going to say something: It’s like semi-fascism.” Subsequently, Biden delivered an important and substantial speech in Philadelphia where he avoided the word “fascism” but detailed the way MAGA Republicans were a threat to American democracy.

Biden’s remarks and his speech have elicited a considerable pushback from the mainstream media, with the president being accused of being inflammatory and partisan.

The New Republic staff writer Matt Ford has written an strong defense of Biden’s deployment of the term “semi-fascism.” I talked with Matt about his article and about the ways in which fascism does (and doesn’t) describe Trumpism.

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