The Washington Examiner’s Kaylee McGhee White slammed President Joe Biden on Monday for comparing Trump supporters to fascists.
White said on Fox Business that the remarks made last week by the president are “insulting” and “a betrayal” of his prior stated commitment to uniting the country.
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At a fundraiser on Thursday, the president said, “What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” according to a pool report. “It’s not just Trump; it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something — it’s like semifascism.”
This signals a shift in rhetoric by Biden, who previously said he wanted to “unite” the country dating back to his presidential campaign.
“It’s definitely a betrayal of the promise that he made, which I don’t think anyone really expected him to keep in the first place,” White said.
“What Biden is conveying here is he actually thinks of them as political enemies. To compare Trump voters to ‘semifascists’ is a suggestion that they support totalitarianism and, you know, the upending of everything that America stands for. So it’s really insulting,” she continued.
At the same event, the president also said, “I respect conservative Republicans,” clarifying later, “I don’t respect these MAGA Republicans.”
In response, White explained, “These are voters who, especially in 2016, were looking for something different than what they were being offered from the governing establishment. They wanted someone who was going to fight for their values at home, whether that was, you know, basic wage rights, a secure border, [or] the right to live how they believe is right for them. And these are basic values that, honestly, I would say more than half the country shares. A lot of people just want to be left alone. They want to go about doing their own business, and that’s what MAGA meant to them.”
“So to lump them all in this extremist basket is really insulting, and it’s offensive,” she continued.
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During a press conference Friday, the White House defended Biden’s remarks. “They’re attacking democracy, right? They are taking away rights and freedoms. They are using threats of violence,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “He called it what it is.”
