Peter Doocy asked Biden if he considers Trump supporters to be a threat to the nation, and Biden wrecked the Trump/Fox News talking point.
Video of President Biden:
Biden turns a Peter Doocy question around on him, “I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country,” he then lays out all of the ways that Republicans are threatening democracy. pic.twitter.com/kMQ32W0b0B
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 2, 2022
Transcript provided to PoliticusUSA by the White House Pool Report:
Peter Doocy: Do you consider all Trump supporters to be a threat to the country?
POTUS: Come on look guys … I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country. I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, fails to condemn violence when it’s used, refuses to acknowledge an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which we rule and count votes that is a threat to democracy. Democracy.
Everything we stand for, everything we stand for rests on the platform of democracy. People voted for Donald Trump and support him now, they weren’t voting for attacking the Capitol. They weren’t voting for overruling an election. They were voting for a philosophy he put forward. So I am not talking about anything other than, it is inappropriate — and it is not only happening here but other parts of the world — a failure to recognize and condemn violence whenever it’s used for these purposes. Failure to condemn an attempt to manipulate electoral outcomes. Failure to acknowledge when elections are won or lost.
The President made an important distinction between Trump, elected Republicans, and the people who vote for them. Biden was correct. People didn’t vote for Donald Trump because they wanted the Capitol to be attacked or classified documents to be stolen. People didn’t vote for Donald Trump because they wanted democracy destroyed.
Tens of millions didn’t vote for Trump because they thought that the election was “rigged.”
Ever since the classified documents story broke Trump, Fox News, some elected Republicans, and conservative media have gone into overdrive attempting to personalize Trump’s behavior as a threat to the Republican base.
The latest effort is to claim that Biden thinks Trump supporters are a threat to America. It is not true, and Peter Doocy’s question gave the President the opportunity to strongly rebuke the misinformation that is being spread by the right.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
