President Biden, at a press conference at NATO HQ today, took the unusual step of sharply criticizing trump and the republican party on the world stage.
He told the world that “the Republican Party is vastly diminished in numbers, the leadership of the Republican party is fractured and the trump wing of the part is the bulk of the party.” And he labeled trump as a “phony populist.”
Biden:
We are a decent honorable nation.
I think that they have seen things happen as we have that shocked them and surprised them it could have happened, but I think they like I do, believe the American people are not going to sustain that kind of behavior.
And so I — you know, I don’t want to get into the statistics because that old phrase of Disraeli, there’s three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics.
But I think it’s appropriate to say that the Republican Party is vastly diminished in numbers, the leadership of the Republican Party is fractured, and the Trump wing of the party is the bulk of the party, but it makes up a significant minority of the American people.”
He then went on to sharply rebuke trump and his “phony populism” and criticized cowardly republican lawmakers for not having the courage to stand up for the country.
I think — it is a shock and surprise that what’s happened in terms of the consequence of President Trump’s phony populism has happened.
And it is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate, who I know better, have been reluctant to take on, for example, an investigation because they’re worried about being primaried. But at the end of the day, we’ve been through periods like this in American history before where there has been this reluctance to take a chance on your re-election because of the nature of your party’s politics at the moment. I think this is passing ... I don’t mean easily passing.
That’s why it’s so important that I succeed in my agenda. It’s important that we demonstrate we can make progress and continue to make progress and I think are going to be able to do that.
Was the last statement also aimed at Senate Democrats, in particular Manchin and Sinema?
These statements were in response to a question by Anne Gearan of the Washington Post.
Biden also called on world leaders to go after the roots of phony populism and corruption in their countries and to protect Democracy. The fight against right-wing authoritarianism is a global one and Biden is marshaling forces against it.
We have to root out corruption that siphons off our strength, guard against those who would stoke hatred and division for political gain as phony populism, invest in strengthening institutions that underpin and safeguard our cherished democratic values. That's how we'll prove that democracy and that our alliance can still prevail against the challenges of our time and deliver for the needs and the needs of our people.
These are not off-the-cuff remarks; they must have been carefully chosen knowing very well how the world will react to them and how trump, the sycophantic republican party and the right-wing echo chamber will respond to it. It’s clear that Biden is reassuring the world that trump republicans do not represent the majority of the American people. And he is willing to poke them in the eye. His vision is that we are a decent honorable nation and we will prevail over this trumpian virus that has infected so many minds in our country.
The republican party may be diminished, but they are like a cornered animal, no longer able to win elections fair and square; there is a lot of mischief, violence and destructive behavior yet to come. We have to stay vigilant and fight the dark forces of fascism and racism at every step.