President Joe Biden’s staffers worked furiously Thursday night to combat accusations that his speech at Independence Hall was too partisan against “extreme” MAGA Republicans.
The president repeatedly condemned “MAGA Republicans” and supporters of former President Donald Trump as violent extremists who represented a threat to American democracy.
“Democracy is not a partisan or political issue,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher wrote on social media, criticizing a CNN anchor’s description of the speech as “political”
“Except it’s not political,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates insisted, featuring the same criticism of Biden’s speech.
Bates also claimed that journalists were being hypocritical for suggesting that Biden’s speech was too partisan.
“It’s not ‘political,’ it’s his duty,” wrote White House senior adviser for communications to the National Economic Council.
White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty compared Biden’s speech to the nation’s first president George Washington’s farewell address.
Even former Biden officials tried to defend the president.
“Defending democracy is necessary because it is under threat. That doesn’t make that defense of one of our fundamental values as a county partisan or political. (Because it’s not),” former White House press secretary Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter.
Former press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris said Biden’s speech was “not” a campaign speech.
“Prior to tonight I thought, oh this is a campaign speech…after listening it clearly was not. I heard a POTUS ringing the alarm about the real threat to our nation,” she wrote.
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