On Monday, President Joe Biden yet again attacked “MAGA Republicans” in a Labor Day speech as the Midterms approach and his party continues to struggle in the polls.
“I want to be very clear up front, not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology,” Biden said at a rally in Milwaukee. “I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans in my whole career.”
Biden added: “But the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division.”
The comments come as the president has been increasing his attacks on the GOP and other political opponents with elections looming. Biden recently claimed Republicans had embraced “semi-fascism” and claimed in a major address in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on Thursday that “equality and democracy are under assault” by Republicans.
Biden on Thursday also said that not all Republicans, “not even a majority of Republicans are MAGA Republicans.” But, he said, the GOP overall is “dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”
In Monday’s speech, the president kept up the attack in Wisconsin, attacking the state’s Republican Senator Ron Johnson.
Biden labeled Johnson as one of the “MAGA Republicans, the far right, the Trumpies,” tying him to claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump and to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and our economic security. They embrace political violence,” Biden said.
“Sen. Johnson said it was a by and large a peaceful protest,” Biden added of Jan. 6. “Have you seen the video of what happened that day? Listened to the stories of the members from both parties of Congress and the jeopardy they were put in? Cops attacked and assaulted, speared with flag poles, sprayed with mace, stomped down, dragged, brutalized.”
The former president neglected to mention the “mostly peaceful protests” of the summer of 2020 in which Black Lives Matter activists burned cities and caused over $1 billion of property damage, with physical attacks on police occurring regularly.
Biden came after Johnson over a plan from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) that would sunset federal legislation after five years. The president argued that it would put programs like Medicare and Social Security at risk and accused Johnson of wanting to “savage” those programs.
“Read the Republican campaign plan, the Senate campaign they put out this year. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida heads up that committee,” the president said. “They want to require Congress to vote on the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid every five years.”
Biden’s attacks are on the rise as Democrats believe their road to midterm success involves an emphasis on social issues, such as abortion laws in red states, and policies such as Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, they believe that constant attacks on President Donald Trump and his followers will be the deciding factor in their victory.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” Biden said in his Thursday address, referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. “Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
Republicans, meanwhile, argue that soaring inflation and the economy are the key midterm issues. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) attacked Democrats on a litany of issues, including inflation, in an address ahead of Biden’s Thursday speech.
“How many of you can afford to give up one month of your income? I bet not many,” McCarthy said during an appearance north of Philadelphia in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “But if you had a constant salary for the past year, you’ve had more than one month of your income taken away.”
“Democrats have had total control in Washington. … So, let me ask you this: How have they done?” McCarthy concluded.
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