President Joe Biden ramped up his rhetoric against “MAGA Republicans” during a Tuesday afternoon speech in Pennsylvania.
Biden traveled to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to speak about how his “Safe America Plan” will help reduce “gun crime and save lives,” according to a schedule provided by the White House. A key portion of the president’s speech was aimed at the GOP, with Biden slamming the defense of January 6 rioters and calls by some within the party to defund the FBI following the raid on Mar-a-Lago.
“You hear some of my friends in the other team talking about political violence and how it’s necessary. Think about this now. Did any of you think … you’d ever be in an election where we talk about, it’s appropriate to use force political violence in America. It’s never appropriate, never. Period. Never, never, never,” Biden said.
“To this day, the MAGA Republicans in Congress defend the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6. Defend them. You all saw it,” the president added.
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Biden continued on to directly address his “MAGA Republicans friends in Congress,” arguing that they can’t tell him they “support law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened” on January 6.
“Don’t tell me. Can’t do it! For God’s sake, whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? Look, you’re either on a side of a mob or the side of the police,” Biden shouted. “You can’t be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection. You can’t be a party of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on January 6 ‘patriots.’ You can’t do it!”
The president ended his comments about the GOP by condemning calls to defund the FBI. Some Republicans have issued such calls after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Florida home in early August. Biden reiterated his anti-defund the police stand, as well, but didn’t directly speak on the raid itself.
“There’s no place in this country, no place, for endangering the lives of law enforcement. No place. None, never, period. I’m opposed to defunding the police, I’m also opposed to defunding the FBI,” the president said.
Biden’s remarks on Tuesday against the Republican Party mark an escalation for a president who promised to be a unifier when he first came into office. In recent weeks, Biden has begun issuing stronger comments regarding the GOP, describing Republican proposals as “semi-fascism” in a speech Aug. 25. (RELATED: CNN Anchor John Avlon Says Biden’s ‘Semi-Fascism’ Remark Is ‘Not Befitting’ Of The President)