President Joe Biden is getting some rare scolding from a noted CNN anchor following his Thursday evening prime-time speech that has been widely panned for sounding angry and divisive.
In a tweet, Brianna Keilar — who is married to US Army Lt. Col. Fernando Luján, a Special Forces officer — ripped Biden for giving his speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia while using U.S. Marines as a backdrop.
“Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it”, she tweeted.
During her “New Day” program Friday morning, Keilar brought on Allison Jaslow, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and herself a U.S. Army veteran, to comment.
“There are a lot of people who are taking issue with us just raising this point”, Jaslow — who said she agreed with the “substance” of Biden’s speech — began.
“Listen, you know, there are Marines that could have organically showed up in some frame, sure, those were obviously men that were put there and they’re different than volunteers that would fill up a stage at a campaign event or even an official event that is put together,” she continued, according to Mediaite.
“And I think — you know, I wasn’t looking for attention when I commented on your point that the military was being unnecessarily politicized in this instance, but it’s true. Somebody made a decision to put those Marines in the shot, and the reality is those Marines didn’t have a choice whether to be there or not,” Jaslow added. “So they could be like myself who if I was in the military still would have agreed with the president and would have welcomed being at the event yesterday, but we don’t know that that’s true.
“And the reality is that, like, we need to make sure that our military is as removed from politics as possible and it’s not right if a Democrat uses the military as a political pawn and it’s not right if the Republican Party does it as well. None of our politicians or elected leaders should do that, and I think it’s important to speak up and say so when it’s done”, she added.
As for his speech, Biden appeared to accuse roughly half the voting population of being a threat to the nation.
“We must be honest with each other and with ourselves”, Biden said at one point. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic”.
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” he claimed. “They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election”.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country”, Biden claimed.
Several people pushed back on Biden’s remarks, calling them outrageously divisive.
“That was the most demagogic, outrageous, and divisive speech I have ever seen from an American president. Joe Biden essentially declared all those who oppose him and his agenda enemies of the republic. Truly shameful”, Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro noted.
“I can’t believe this is a real photograph. It depicts the president of our nation, as he took to the airwaves and spoke about his fellow citizens as if they were sewer rats”, J.D. Vance, the GOP nominee for US Senate in Ohio, added.
