President Joe Biden had his “basket of deplorables” moment during a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, when he painted 74 million Trump supporters as “semi-fascist” extremists.
"What we're seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It's not just Trump, it's the entire philosophy that underpins the — I'm going to say something — it's like semi-fascism," Biden said.
Pressed to explain that comment, White House Press Secretary said the president “very clearly, very powerfully” laid out the choice in front of Americans.
“What we are seeing from Republicans these past several years is that they are attacking our democracy, they are taking away our freedom, and they are trying to put on the chopping blocks Medicare and Social Security,” she told CNN’s Don Lemon. “That’s what we are seeing and it’s being done…by this element, this MAGA element of the Republican Party, and that’s what we are trying to prevent, that’s what you heard from the president today.”
Karine Jean-Pierre is struggling to answer Don Lemon's question about what Joe Biden meant by Republicans being "semi-fascists."
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) August 26, 2022
She is so terrible at her job. If you can't even handle Don Lemon as a Democrat flack, you are beyond incompetent. pic.twitter.com/vUmI3h9IdX
The Republican National Committee blasted Biden's comment as "despicable."
RNC calls Biden’s “semi-fascism” line “despicable.” Full statement from RNC spokesman @NathanBrandWA: pic.twitter.com/jSk8q4LYfU
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 25, 2022