President Joe Biden told black graduates Sunday that former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies ‘don’t see you in the future of America’ in a fiery takedown on race.
The president didn’t use Trump or the GOP’s name as he addressed graduating seniors from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, but it was clear who he was talking about as he brought up January 6 amid their commencement ceremony.
‘Insurrectionists who stormed the capitol with Confederate flags are called patriots by some,’ Biden told the seniors, graduating from the historically black, all-male institution. ‘Not in my house.’
Trump often refers to his supporters who ramsacked the Capitol by that term.
‘Black police officers, black veterans, protecting the Capitol were called another word as you recall,’ Biden continued.
The president added that ‘extremists close the doors of opportunity.’
‘They don’t see you in the future of America, but they’re wrong,’ Biden said. ‘We know black history is American history. We know black men are going to lead us into the future.’
President Joe Biden attends commencement Sunday morning at Morehouse College – a historically black, all-male school in Atlanta
The president’s speech wavered between the political and the personal as he talked about the ‘Saturdays’ in the Christian faith, when Jesus’ disciples had given up hope, a day before Christ’s resurrection.
Biden talked of his own ‘Saturdays’ – the loss of his first wife and baby daughter and later his adult son Beau.
He segued that to current events that are tests of faith – the assault on democracy and war in Gaza.
Biden was given applause by most of the graduating class throughout his address, with just one member of the faculty obviously protesting his appearance over the war.
As the seniors filed into the outdoor commencement ceremony at Morehouse’s Century Campus in Atlanta, some wore keffiyehs or Palestinian flag pins, subtle signs of support for the Palestinian civilians amid the war in Gaza.
And ahead of Biden’s remarks, valedictorian DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher animately talked about the war in Gaza.
‘For the first time in our lives, we’ve heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture,’ he said. ‘It is my stance as a Morehouse man, nay as a human being, to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.’
Biden clapped.
He echoed that stance during his remarks – while calling the conflict ‘heartbreaking.’
‘What after? What happens in Gaza? What rights do the Palestinian people have? I am working so that we finally get a two-state solution,’ he pledged the student body.
President Joe Biden (right) stands during the national anthem during Sunday morning’s commencement at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia
A Morehouse graduate wears a keffiyeh draped over his shoulders – a sign of support for the Palestinians
A Morehouse College graduate sported a Palestinian flag pin, while other graduating seniors draped Palestinian keffiyehs around their shoulders in a show of solidarity amid the war in Gaza
Ahead of the Sunday morning commencement, the White House’s Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin, the former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, met with Morehouse staff and students.
NBC News reported that some of the students expressed that they were worried Biden’s appearance would overshadow their graduation day.
‘I think what – what’s going to be most important are – are the words that the president articulates,’ Benjamin said when asked about that concern during Thursday’s press briefing. ‘And I know that he – he feels very deeply about what this means to these young men.’
He said his conversations with the students were about a number of issues.
‘Certainly, many of them wanted to talk about the Middle East and – and war,’ Benjamin said.
Pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations have gotten some commencement ceremonies cancelled this spring whereas other graduation speakers have been interrupted by protesting students.
Biden has been followed by demonstrators all over the country as he continues to support Israel’s war against Hamas – though stalled one shipment of 2,000 pound bombs over Palestinian civilian concerns.
Morehouse College is a historically black, all-male school near downtown Atlanta.
President Joe Biden arrived in Atlanta a day before the Morehouse commencement and met with prominent alumni on the tarmac including Sen. Raphael Warnock (third from left). He put his hands on the shoulders of Marlon Kimpson, a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy
He then spoke to supporters at Mary Mac’s Tea Room telling them he felt good about his chances in the November election and pushing that they shouldn’t be discouraged by the polling because former President Donald Trump is still losing votes in the GOP primaries
The president arrived in Atlanta a day early – and immediately kicked off the trip by greeting a group of Morehouse alumni – including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock – on the tarmac of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Georgia’s other Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff greeted Biden at the airport as well.
The president then headed to a black-owned restaurant, Mary Mac’s Tea Room, to hobnob with a group of supporters.
In the crowd was failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who gave the president a quick bow before going in for a hug.
At both the restaurant – and later at a closed-door fundraiser where cameras are barred – Biden urged supporters not to be too worried about the polls.
In a recent New York Times survey, Biden was behind Trump in five of th six battleground states, only beating the ex-president in Wisconsin.
In Georgia, Biden appears to be 10 points down – 39 percent to Trump’s 49 percent.
President Joe Biden (right) hugs failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who gave him a little bow before they embraced
The presidentwent over and talked to a child after delivering remarks Saturday at the Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta, Georgia
Still, the president predicted ‘we’re going to do well.’
‘Here’s the deal, you hear about how, you know, we’re behind in the polls. So far the polls haven’t been right once,’ he said at the restaurant.
He added at the fundraiser later in the afternoon, ‘It’s hard to make any poll rational these days,’ alluding to how voters are hard to touch base with due to the demise of land lines.
‘What I look at are actual election results and election results are in the primaries,’ the president said.
Biden noted how Trump ‘doesn’t have an opponent’ but lost about 120,000 voters – 128,170 to be exact – in Indiana’s Republican primary to Nikki Haley, while around 150,000 Republican in Pennsylvania also backed the former U.N. ambassador over the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
‘This election a lot’s at stake. Lots at stake. It’s not about me it’s about the alternative as well,’ Biden said.
‘My opponent is not a good loser. But he is a loser,’ Biden told the crowd at Mary Mac’s Tea Room, garnering cheers and applause.
Ahead of delivering Morehouse’s commencement address, Biden made two appearance Saturday in Atlanta, first before supporters at the black-owned Mary Mac’s Tea Room and then at a fundraiser where cameras are barred from the room
At the fundraiser, held at the ornate headquarters of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the president slapped around Trump as well.
‘The threat Trump poses in a second term is greater than in the first term,’ Biden said.
‘It’s clear that when he lost in 2020 something snapped with Trump,’ the president continued. ‘He’s not only obsessed with losing in 2020, he’s clearly been unhinged.’
In the crowd there were more prominent Georgia Democratic political figures – with Rep. Lucy McBath, former Sen. Sam Nunn and Sally Yates.
‘By the way you have someone here, a former Deputy Attorney General of the Obama-Biden administration, who I’ve warned her, if I win, watch out. Sally Yates,’ Biden teased.
He also applauded the state’s former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan – who wasn’t on hand but crossed party lines to endorse him.
Biden said he’s happily take any of Haley’s primary supporters too.
‘Let me say there’s always going to be a place for Haley voters in my campaign,’ the president said.
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