Former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove sparred with Fox News political analyst Juan Williams on Sunday over what the former dubbed the president’s “semi-fascist” remarks.
Rove accused President Joe Biden of “attacking” all Republicans after calling former President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans’ philosophy “semi-fascism” at a Democratic fundraiser in Maryland on Friday.
“President Biden was attacking Republicans generally,” Rove said on Fox News Sunday. “He was not talking about the people who assaulted the Capitol that sits to the south of us here, he was attacking the entire party. And you saw that in Cedric Richmond’s comments, who said ‘well we’re really sort of big, we’re willing to work with the semi-fascist Republicans on issues of common ground.’ This was not in keeping with what the president promised us.”
He then read an excerpt of Biden’s inaugural address urging the nation to “treat each other with dignity and respect.” Rove argued the president did not display his own words by making those remarks.
“But Karl, clearly he was speaking to people, he said, clearly, I’m not talking about conservative Republicans,” Williams interjected. (RELATED: ‘Definition Of Fascism’: Karine Jean-Pierre Tries To Explain Why ‘MAGA Republicans’ Are Fascists)
“No, he didn’t say that. Those words never passed his lips,” Rove argued.
“They did, and also, he clearly acted at people who weren’t neighborly and attacked the Congress,” Williams said.
The president stated it is “not just Trump” who carries this philosophy and said they are “not real Republicans.”
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden told Democratic donors in the Washington suburb of Rockville, Maryland. Calling out those he labeled as “extreme” Republicans, Biden said: “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.”
“There are not many real Republicans anymore,” Biden added.
Rove criticized Biden for his remarks Friday, saying voters supported Trump for his policy proposals to cut taxes, strengthen the military, and secure the border.