Following Biden's divisive speech Thursday night, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took a combative tone on Friday while responding to critical questions from reporters who called out her earlier claims that Biden wouldn't be "political" in his speech that wouldn't be about "one political party" or "one political person."
For those who missed it, Biden called out Donald Trump by name and repeatedly attacked "MAGA Republicans" while urging his supporters to "vote, vote, vote," in his address that was, according to the White House, not political.
"The way we see it here, and I would argue the way many Americans across the country see it, is standing up for democracy is not political," Jean-Pierre insisted despite Biden's caustic attack on tens of millions of Americans. "Denouncing political violence is not political," she added while apparently forgetting that Biden's selective denunciations failed to condemn Antifa and BLM violence in 2020 as well as the targeting of Supreme Court Justices in 2022 — including the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
KJP defends Biden's speech last night as apolitical:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 2, 2022
"Denouncing political violence is not political. Defending rights and freedom is not political. Making clear the challenges facing the nation is not political. We don't call any of that political. We see that as leadership." pic.twitter.com/efNr6NxEpX
"For him this was not a political speech," she insisted repeatedly, "to talk about what is happening in our country today." Of course, what Biden spoke about was how he views roughly half the country as his enemy because they won't go along with his and Democrats' radical will. He did not mention, as Jean-Pierre insisted, "what is happening in our country."
Not once on Thursday night did Biden mention:
- inflation
- fentanyl
- the U.S.-Mexico border
- gas prices
- crime spikes
Those are all things happening in our country that Biden hasn't been bothered to deal with in a meaningful way in his first two years in office and wasn't able to fit into his primetime address to the American people. That's because his speech, contrary to the White House's desperate spin, was entirely political and not at all related to policy.
"We don't think it's a political speech," Jean-Pierre said again when asked how Biden's urging of Americans to "vote, vote, vote" to defeat what the president called "MAGA forces" could possibly be construed as anything but political. That's because Biden's speech calling out what he apparently views as a mortal threat to "our democracy" isn't real enough to have a solution at the policy level. The only answer to Biden's concocted threats is to, conveniently, vote for his party to give him more power. Funny how that works.
Jean-Pierre also attempted to explain the presence of Marine guards and their use as background staging for Biden's address — a display that received criticism from CNN as much as any other outlets. According to the White House, the Marines were merely "intended to demonstrate" the "unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy."
KJP: "The presence of the marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect has for these service members, to these ideals and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy." pic.twitter.com/BhT4L7UEIt
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 2, 2022
Playing a quite literally unbelievable spin game, Biden's press secretary insisted that the president's primetime address "resonated," even though its resonance had the effect of steeling and entrenching Biden's opponents:
KJP on Biden's speech last night:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 2, 2022
"We believe it indeed resonated." pic.twitter.com/hfQ5GgLcjp
Sure, Biden's speech resonated — but not for the reasons the White House may have hoped. It resonated because it again proved Joe Biden to be the divisive figure Americans were already used to as he sought to further split Americans against one another.
It was also a significant escalation of his previous statements aimed at turning his fellow citizens against each other. No longer was it Biden hollering about COVID-19 — a virus he campaigned on shutting down and dubiously declared independence from in July 2021 — being a "pandemic of the unvaccinated." Instead it was Biden declaring — while flanked by military guards and bathed in eerie red light — that Americans who disagree with him and his party politically were somehow enemies of the Republican who seek to drag their country "backwards."