Biden, who ran as a unifier, qualified that “not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.
“But,” the president added, “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. These are hard things.”
Speaking on ABC News “This Week,” Bottoms, who is the White House’s Office of Public Engagement director, defended Biden.
During the interview, Raddatz pressed Bottoms, questioning if the president’s speech was overly divisive. Bottoms maintained that the president was simply “calling out” to Americans regardless of who they voted for.
during interview with Keisha Lance Bottoms, Martha Raddatz suggests Biden engaged in hate speech during his primetime address pic.twitter.com/0BCVKzswmO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2022
“What I see in this speech — I see words of encouragement. I see optimism. I see a commander in chief who is calling out to all of us, no matter our political affiliation,” Bottoms stated.
“All of us?” Raddatz asked. “He wasn’t calling out to the MAGA supporters, certainly. He mentioned them more than a dozen times as a threat to democracy. Has the president essentially given up on those MAGA Republicans — some 70 million people?”
Bottoms replied, “What the president has done is said that he will continue to work with mainstream Republicans, that he will work with Democrats, that he will work with independents to get things done in our country.”
