President Joe Biden expressed his concern Friday that the modern Republican Party had changed significantly since he served in Congress.
“This ain’t your father’s Republican Party. Not a joke,” Biden said during an Earth Day speech in Seattle on Friday.
The president referred to the tape released Thursday of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy discussing what he planned to talk to President Donald Trump about in the wake of the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill.
“All kidding aside, this is a MAGA party now,” Biden added. “These guys are a different breed of cat. They’re not like what I served with for so many years.”
Biden said he had up to seven or eight Senate Republicans tell him privately they were willing to work with him on his agenda, but he said they were too afraid.
“The people who know better are afraid to act correctly because they know they’ll be primaried,” he said.
Biden spoke about the Republican Party during part of a fundraising swing on the West coast.
During a pair of fundraisers with prominent Democrats on Thursday, Biden was more critical of the modern Republican Party.
During a fundraiser in Seattle with the president and vice chair of Microsoft, Brad Smith, Biden criticized the Florida Republican Party for pushing forward a bill to punish Disney after the family entertainment company attacked a parental rights in education bill.
He said:
I respect conservatives. There’s nothing conservative about deciding you’re going to throw Disney out of its present posture because — Mickey Mouse? In fact, do you think we should be not be able to say, you know, “gay”? I mean, what’s going on here? What the hell is going on?
Earlier in the evening Biden also criticized the Republican Party for attacking Disney.
“It’s not even conservative in the traditional sense of conservative. It’s mean. It’s ugly,” Biden said. “Look at what’s happening now in Florida. They’re going after Mickey Mouse … don’t say gay? I mean seriously think about it.”