Media

CNN Anchor Wonders Out Loud If Biden Shot Himself In The Foot With ‘MAGA Crowd’ Comment

[Screenshot CNN New Day]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

CNN’ Alex Marquardt questioned Thursday whether President Joe Biden’s “MAGA crowd” comment was akin to when Hillary Clinton labeled supporters of former President Donald Trump as “deplorable.”

Biden told reporters Wednesday that “this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history,” while speaking about the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Co-anchor Brianna Keilar asked CNN analyst Michael Smerconish whether Biden’s comment could be a “pivotal moment.”

“[Biden] is trying to put Donald Trump on the ballot,” Smerconish replied. (RELATED: Biden Says Right To Abortion Comes From Being A ‘Child Of God’)

Marquardt then asked whether the comments could led to a “fallout” similar to what Clinton experienced in 2016 after she said “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”

“But Michael, in targeting the MAGA crowd, which we don’t often hear him talk about, if ever, do you think there’s any fallout from that? Is it kind of like when Hillary Clinton called this same Trump base ‘deplorables?'”

“I think that backfired on her,” Smerconish said. “I think that she regretted it. I think it became a rallying cry. You remember there was merchandise, there was merch at the time. People were wearing T-shirts proudly proclaiming that they were part of the deplorables. So I think it’s a fine line, but I think we’re at a stage now, right, at this point in the spring where it’s the president and his team seeing what resonates and what’s going to drive people.”

“And the argument that he seems to have settled on yesterday is one of, if Roe v. Wade is overturned: where else might this so-called movement lead?”