Jennifer Rubin says that President Joe Biden is channeling “Give ’em hell” Harry Truman lately:
An incident that took place during the 1948 presidential election campaign. In Bremerton, Washington, Truman delivered a speech attacking the “Do Nothing” Republican Congress. During the speech, a supporter yelled out, “Give ’em Hell, Harry!” To which Truman replied, “I don’t give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it’s Hell.”
Rubin means “give ’em hell” Joe Biden aka “Dark Brandon” is finally calling out anti-democracy insurrectionist Republicans for who they are: “semifascists” (crypto-fascists), in fulfilling his oath of office to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. The fascists all cried foul, because it is the truth about them.
On Thursday, President Biden will deliver a national address to Focus on the ‘Battle for the Soul of the Nation’ in Prime-Time Speech:
President Biden will travel to Pennsylvania on Thursday to deliver a rare prime-time speech on what the White House called the “battle for the soul of the nation,” returning to the theme of democracy in peril that he used in the 2020 presidential campaign as his party fights to hold onto control of Congress in the looming midterm elections.
Mr. Biden’s speech outside Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia will describe how democracy itself in America is at stake while most likely taking aim at a Republican Party he has increasingly criticized in recent weeks, according to a White House official. It is also expected to emphasize the reputation of the United States on the global stage.
The speech will come as Mr. Biden has struck a more aggressive tone after spending most of the first year of his presidency preferring to emphasize unity in a divided nation over attacking Republicans, at times frustrating members of his own party. Just last week, the president condemned “ultra-MAGA Republicans” for a philosophy he described as “semifascism.”
[T]he timing of Mr. Biden’s speech on Thursday, less than three months before the November elections, is also another sign that the administration is leaning into a strategy outlined in a memo written by Jen O’Malley Dillon, a deputy White House chief of staff, and Anita Dunn, a top communications adviser. Mr. Biden is expected to trumpet legislative victories that “beat the special interests” and attack the extremism embraced by Mr. Trump and his allies, both strategies emphasized in the memo.
Today President Biden previewed some of his national address during a speech on crime, gun violence, and policing in the United States during a visit to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress. Do not tell me you support law enforcement if you will not condemn what happened on the sixth. Do not tell me. Cannot do it. For god’s sake, whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? Look, you are on the side of the mob or the side of the police.
You cannot be both pro-law enforcement and pro- insurrection. You cannot be a party of law and order while calling the people who attacked the police on January 6th patriots. You cannot do it.
Now, it is sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI, threatening the lives of law enforcement agents and their families, simply for carrying out the law and doing their job. Look. I want to say this as clearly as I can. There is no place in this country, no place for endangering the lives of law enforcement. No place. None, never, period. I am opposed to defunding the police, I am also opposed to defunding the FBI.
The Associated Press reports, Biden blasts ‘MAGA Republicans,’ ‘sickening’ attacks on FBI:
President Joe Biden on Tuesday railed against the “MAGA Republicans in Congress” who have refused to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and now are targeting the FBI as he tried to portray Democrats as the true pro-law enforcement party ahead of the November midterms.
In remarks initially billed as a crime-prevention speech, Biden seized on comments from allies of former President Donald Trump who have called for stripping funding from the FBI since it executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida residence. Biden’s remarks were the first substantive defense he has made of the FBI since the Aug. 8 search at Mar-a-Lago, which triggered not just withering criticism of the agency but threats of violence against its employees.
“It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI, threatening the life of law enforcement and their families, for simply carrying out the law and doing their job,” Biden said before a crowd of more than 500 at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania. “I’m opposed to defunding the police; I’m also opposed to defunding the FBI.”
It was a notably different tack for Biden, who has steered clear of extensively commenting on any element of the Justice Department’s investigation since federal agents conducted the search at Trump’s estate. Biden also appeared to call out — without naming him — recent comments from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who warned of “riots in the streets” should Trump ultimately face prosecution.
“The idea you turn on a television and see senior senators and congressmen saying, ‘If such and such happens there’ll be blood on the street’?” Biden said. “Where the hell are we?”
The speech Tuesday continued Biden’s aggressive rhetoric against the GOP ahead of the midterms, as Democrats enjoy a slightly brighter political environment buoyed by significant legislative accomplishments and a presidential approval rating that has trended slightly upward. During a political rally in the Washington suburbs last week, Biden likened Republican ideology to “semi-fascism.” He is set to deliver a democracy-focused speech on Thursday in Philadelphia that the White House has said “will make clear” who is fighting for democratic values.
As he has done before, Biden on Tuesday criticized GOP officials who have refused to denounce the pro-Trump rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol nearly 20 months ago. Referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Biden said, “Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don’t tell me you support the law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th.”
The campaign-style speech near Biden’s birthplace was the first of three visits by the president in less than a week to the state that is home to a competitive governor’s race and a U.S. Senate contest that could help determine whether Democrats will keep their majority in the chamber. Trump is hosting his own rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Democrats believe Pennsylvania is their strongest opportunity to flip a Senate seat currently held by Republicans. Meanwhile, the open race for governor will give the winner power over how 2024’s presidential election is run in a battleground state that is still buffeted by Trump’s baseless claims that Democrats fraudulently stole the 2020 election from him.
[T]he president also used his remarks Tuesday to promote his administration’s crime-prevention efforts and to continue to pressure Congress to revive a long-expired federal ban on assault-style weapons. Democrats and Republicans worked together in a rare effort to pass gun safety legislation earlier this year after massacres in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. They were the first significant firearm restrictions approved by Congress in nearly three decades, but Biden has repeatedly said more needs to be done.
“We beat the NRA. We took them on and beat the NRA straight up. You have no idea how intimidating they are to elected officials,” an animated Biden said. “We’re not stopping here. I’m determined to ban assault weapons in this country! Determined. I did it once before. And I’ll do it again.”
As a U.S. senator, Biden played a leading role in temporarily banning assault-style weapons, including firearms similar to the AR-15 that have exploded in popularity in recent years, and he wants to put the law back into place. Biden argued that there was no rationale for such weapons “outside of a war zone” and noted that parents of the young victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde had to supply DNA because the weapon used in the massacre rendered the bodies unidentifiable.
“DNA, to say that’s my baby!” Biden said. “What the hell is the matter with us?”
Democrats are trying to blunt Republican efforts to use concern about crime to their advantage in the midterms. It’s a particularly fraught issue in Pennsylvania, a key swing state.
“Don’t tell me you support the law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th.” In fact, congressional Republicans have tried to “alternate reality” January 6 by calling a violent insurrection “legitimate political discourse” and a “peaceful protest,” and characterizing the “J6” insurrectionists as “patriots” and “political prisoners.” They are treasonous traitorous criminals who are disloyal to their country and who deserve prison time.