US President Joe Biden appeared to walk back his statements on Thursday during his primetime speech in Philadelphia against Donald Trump, his supporters and the Maga Republicans.
The president also denied the allegations that he attacked them and explained that he was only condemning the efforts to overturn a legitimate election rather than an attack on conservative voters.
Despite numerous reports and videos of Biden repeatedly slamming Donald Trump, his supporters and the “MAGA Republicans,” calling them a threat to “the republic,” he denied what he previously said and claimed that he wasn’t referring to “any Trump supporter” when he spoke about the threats posed to American democracy the night before.
“Do you consider all Trump supporters to be a threat to this country?” a reporter asked the president.
“Come on, look, guys, you keep trying to make that case. I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country,” Biden responded.
“I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, fails to condemn violence when it is used, refuses to acknowledge when an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which they can count votes, that is a threat to democracy,” Biden explained.
“When 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 that it is inappropriate and it is not only happening here, but other parts of the world — the failure to recognize and condemn violence whenever it is used for political purposes, failure to condemn any attempt to manipulate election outcomes, failure to acknowledge when an election has been won or lost,” he continued.
Last Thursday, Biden attacked Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, calling them a “threat” to the republic.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said in the statement at that time.
“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country,” the president added.
Following his statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s remarks and claimed that they are “not a political speech.”
“There is a growing number of people who refuse to accept the results of free and fair elections, people who actually openly talk about subverting elections in the future. This is not a speech where he’s going to tell people to vote for one party or the other.” Jean-Pierre said.
