Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said Friday on CNN’s “New Day” that President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech was “divisive” because it singled out a segment of Americans as “our enemy.”
Hutchinson said, “It was a political speech. It was a divisive speech, and that’s not presidential. I said repeatedly that we should not be dwelling upon the last election, we need to be looking at the future and solving problems, and here the president comes out, and he simply talks about the last election and the divisiveness and attacks a segment of America, and that’s not unifying. In his speech, he said we should look at each other as Americans and not enemies, and yet he singled out a segment of Americans and said basically they’re our enemy.”
He continued, “I don’t think it was a presidential speech. I don’t think it will be well received. It was divisive. That’s very troubling to me whenever you are addressing the serious issues from border security to inflation that he’s responsible for and needs to provide answers for.”
Hutchinson added, “I remember back in the time when Jimmy Carter was president, and he gave what they called the Malaise Speech. He never mentioned that word, but he talked about the crisis of confidence in America. Well, he was derided for that speech. It became known as the Malaise speech. I think this speech of President Biden will have a similar impact. It is going to be derided over time as the threat speech, as the divisive speech, and that’s not a good look for America.”
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