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White House senior adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms argued that President Biden’s recent speech to the nation condemning “MAGA Republicans” was one of “optimism” that spoke to all Americans regardless of their political party.
“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, the former mayor of Atlanta, said Sunday during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“All of us? He wasn’t calling out to the MAGA supporters, certainly. He mentioned them more than a dozen times as a threat to democracy,” host Martha Raddatz responded.
Critics have lambasted Biden for what they say was an angry speech where the president repeatedly took aim at the millions of Americans who voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020. The set of the speech was also ridiculed for featuring a “blood red” background that was characterized as “hellish.”
BIDEN SHOCKS VIEWERS WITH ‘HELLISH RED BACKGROUND’ FOR POLARIZING SPEECH
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” Biden said Thursday, while flanked by Marines in front of a red backdrop. “They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people.”
“This is a nation that believes in the rule of law,” he added. “We do not repudiate it.”
Bottoms argued during the Sunday interview that the “MAGA agenda” is about “distorting the truth,” and urged people to read Biden’s speech on the White House’s website to understand its words of “optimism.”
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JULY 07: Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks onstage during the 2018 Essence Festival presented by Coca-Cola at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 7, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Essence) (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Essence)
TRUMP BLASTS BIDEN’S ANTI-MAGA SPEECH: ‘HE’S THE ENEMY OF THE STATE’
“This is what this MAGA agenda has been all about. It’s been about distorting the truth. It’s been about misleading people. It’s been about putting out information that inflames people. And I just encourage people, go to the White House website, whitehouse.gov. Read the speech for yourself.”
Trump blasted Biden’s speech in remarks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening, calling the president an “enemy of the state.”
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“This week, Joe Biden came to Philadelphia to give the most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president,” Trump told the crowd. “Vilifying 75 million citizens, plus another probably 75 to 150 if we want to be accurate about it, as threats to democracy and enemies of the state. You’re all enemies of the state.”
Trump continued: “He’s the enemy of the state, if you want to know the truth.”