Reactions from both sides of the aisle rolled in after President Joe Biden gave a highly anticipated speech from the Oval Office, with Democrats praising the historic moment and Republicans mocking it.
Biden’s public address to the nation came as his first since he suspended his reelection campaign on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him. In a roughly 10-minute speech, the 81-year-old focused on why he dropped his reelection bid, explaining that “there’s a time and a place for new voices, for fresher voices, and, yes, for younger voices, and that time is now.”
The president’s party immediately lauded Biden for being, in top Democratic strategist David Axelrod’s words, “as big as the moment.” In a post to X, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) added, “Tonight, we saw President Joe Biden – one of America’s most consequential presidents – show that he is not only on the right side of history, but on the right side of the future.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) agreed as he praised the president for “run[ning] a great race and le[aving] our country a better place.” In the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was also quick to voice his gratitude for Biden’s leadership. “Thank you, President Biden,” he wrote.
However, led by former President Donald Trump, Republicans had an opposite take on the speech.
Following a rally he held in North Carolina, Trump watched Biden’s address on his plane. The Republican presidential nominee offered a scathing assessment of the speech.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech was barely understandable, and sooo bad!” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social.
The former president also said Biden and Harris are a “great embarrassment” to the country and “there has never been a time like this.”
Biden stumbled a time or two in his address, something of which Fox News host Sean Hannity took note. Hannity told his audience that Biden’s “mumbling bumbling stumbling fumbling to the American people” showed his “cognitive decline.” However, Biden fared relatively well in his live remarks as he expressed gratefulness that he led a country where “a kid with a stutter” could sit behind “the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.”
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CNN’s Van Jones celebrated “the kid with a stutter” as “a good man.”
“You asked, ‘Does character still matter?’” Jones said in addressing his colleagues. “Well, it does tonight.”
