US: Biden embraces tough tone on ‘MAGA Republicans’
President Joe Biden continues to sharpen his attacks against Donald Trump and the so-called MAGA Republicans for posing a threat to democracy.
President Joe Biden continues to sharpen his attacks against Donald Trump and the so-called MAGA Republicans for posing a threat to democracy.
At a Democratic National Committee meeting in Maryland Thursday night, Biden said, “Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal and economic rights, they embrace political violence,” referencing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Biden’s increasingly stark warnings about Trump-fueled elements of the Republican Party are making up the core part of his midterm message, combined with repeated reminders to voters about recent Democratic accomplishments and a promise that democracy can still produce results for the American people.
But it’s the blistering statements from Biden about his predecessor and adherents of the “Make America Great Again” philosophy that have given many Democrats a bolt of fresh energy as they campaign to keep control of Congress.
And Democrats are taking notice.
The gloves-off, no-holds-barred approach from Biden as of late has emboldened Democrats across the country, rallying the party faithful ahead of the November elections even as his harshest rhetoric makes some vulnerable incumbents visibly uncomfortable.
Biden’s forceful campaign-year posture comes as Democrats are feeling more optimistic about the midterms, when the party controlling the White House has historically faced losses in Congress.
A combination of legislative accomplishments, polarizing Republican candidates and voter fury stoked by the overturning of Roe vs. Wade have Democrats feeling they could see smaller losses in the House than initially anticipated, while retaining their barebones majority in the Senate.
The president began road-testing his midterm message at a rally in the Washington suburbs late last month, as he railed against a Republican ideology that he said largely resembled “semi-fascism.”
Biden will headline an event Friday in Ohio, a state where the Senate contest between Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance is becoming increasingly competitive.
Republicans have accused Biden of divisive rhetoric in his string of speeches, particularly with his Philadelphia address. They say the president has tagged tens of millions of Americans who supported Trump as threats to democracy, although both the president and his aides have been careful to distinguish elected officials from voters themselves.
GOP officials still believe Biden remains a liability in competitive districts and states, although his approval ratings have brightened somewhat in recent weeks as the White House notched a series of achievements and as Trump’s legal troubles — starting with the FBI search of his southern Florida estate — have dominated headlines.
