President Joe Biden walked back his attacks on Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters, saying on Friday he doesn’t consider ‘any Trump supporter a threat to the country.’
‘I don’t consider any Trump supporter a threat to the country,’ the president said at the White House.
It was a contrast to his remarks on Thursday night when, in a primetime address on the threat to democracy, he said Trump and his supporters were a threat to the republic.
Republicans slammed Biden’s speech as divisive while Trump said Biden was ‘insane.’
Biden toned down his tough talk on Friday, defending supporters of the former president. In response to a question after an event on federal manufacturing grants, Biden said Trump supporters weren’t voting for violence.
He said the 74 million people who voted for Trump weren’t voting for an insurrection.
‘When people voted for Donald Trump – and support him now – they weren’t voting for attacking the capital. They weren’t voting for overruling the election. They were going for a philosophy he put forward.’
He did condemn the Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol in the January 6th insurrection and those who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.
He insisted his speech was directed at those who attacked democracy.
‘I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, fails to condemn violence when it’s used, refuses to acknowledge an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which the rules and we count votes, that is a threat to democracy. Democracy. And everything we stand for, everything we stand for, rests on the platform of democracy,’ he said.
‘So I am not talking about anything other than it is inappropriate. And it’s not only happening here, but other parts of the world with failure to recognize and condemn violence whenever it’s used for those purposes, failure to condemn the attempt to manipulate an electrical outcome, failure to acknowledge when elections were won or lost.’
President Joe Biden walked back his attacks on Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters, saying on Friday he doesn’t consider ‘any Trump supporter a threat to the country.’
President Biden defended Donald Trump (above) supporters, saying the 74 million people who voted for Trump ‘weren’t voting for attacking the capital. They weren’t voting for overruling the election. They were going for a philosophy he put forward’
In his speech on Thursday night, Biden gave a notably different message.
He said Trump is a ‘threat to the country’ in remarks that contained his harshest rhetoric to date about his predecessor in the Oval Office and the MAGA movement.
‘Equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise,’ Biden declared at the top of his remarks before Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.
He called out Trump by name, slamming the former president for his false claim the 2020 election was stolen and berating those who support Trump.
‘Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represented extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,’ Biden said to great applause from his supporters.
He made it clear he doesn’t think every Republican is ‘extreme’ or a threat but said ‘there’s no question that the Republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.’
‘And that is a threat to this country,’ he said. ‘Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.’
Biden accused Trump and his supporters of trying to thwart free elections, disrespecting the constitution and taking the country backwards in terms of personal rights.
‘MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They did not believe in the rule of law. They did not recognize the will of the people,’ he said. ‘They refused to accept the results of a free election.’
‘You can’t love your country only when you win,’ Biden said. It was a marked change in tone for Biden, who, previously, rarely mentioned Trump by name, usually calling him ‘the former guy.’
His speech took place right before Labor Day, the traditional kickoff time for political campaign season. But the address to the nation was largely ignored by TV stations, with ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, Fox News and Fox Business choosing not to air it live. Only CNN and MSNBC did.
The White House said ahead of Biden’s remarks that the speech was not political. But questions were raised about the appropriateness of the administration bringing two Marines to stand behind the president during his remarks, which contained repeated attacks on Trump, who is Biden’s potential opponent in the 2024 election.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the speech was about ‘standing up for democracy’ and ‘denouncing political violence.’
She said that talking about ‘the challenges facing the nation is not political. We don’t call any of that political. We see that as leadership.’
‘The presence of the Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate that deep and abiding respect the President has for these service members,’ she said at her Friday press briefing, ‘and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy.’
Biden declared Donald Trump is a ‘threat to the country’ in a speech that contained his harshest rhetoric to date about his predecessor in the Oval Office and the MAGA movement
Trump, meanwhile, gave a blistering response to Biden’s remarks.
The former president called Biden ‘insane’ and asked if he was ‘suffering from late stage dementia’ after the president claimed he was a ‘threat to democracy’.
Trump took to his Truth Social account on Thursday night to slam the ‘awkward and angry’ speech outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia – and called on someone to explain to his successor what MAGA means, ‘slowly but passionately’.
‘Someone should explain to Joe Biden, slowly but passionately, that MAGA means, as powerfully as mere words can get, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,’ he wrote.
‘If he doesn’t want to Make America Great Again, which through words, action, and thought, he doesn’t, then he certainly should not be representing the United States of America!
‘If you look at the words and meaning of the awkward and angry Biden speech tonight, he threatened America, including with the possible use of military force. He must be insane, or suffering from late stage dementia!’
Biden’s doctor pronounced him ‘fit for duty’ after his annual physical in November.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk