The president’s staffers worked hard Thursday night to respond to accusations that his speech at Independence Hall was too partisan against “extreme” MAGA Republicans.
The president has repeatedly declared “MAGA Republicans” and supporters of former President Donald Trump as violent extremists who are dangerous to American democratic principles.
“Democracy is not a partisan or political issue,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher wrote on social media in response to a CNN anchor's claim that the speech was “political”
“Except it's not political,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said, fin response to the same criticisms of Biden's speech.
Bates insisted that journalists were being biased in saying Biden's speech was overly partisan.
“It's not ‘political,' it's his duty,” wrote the White House senior adviser for communications to the National Economic Council.
White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty equated Biden's speech to George Washington's farewell message when he left the presidency.
Former Biden officials attempted to defend Biden's speech.
“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.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s former press secretary 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.
