WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden’s speech last Thursday “represents a dangerous escalation in rhetoric and is designed to incite conflict among Americans,” according to 56.8% of likely general election voters surveyed.
The new Trafalgar Group poll surveyed 1,084 voters about Biden’s speech Thursday.
During his speech, Biden double-downed on his attacks on “MAGA Republicans,” a term that he and his administration has used to refer to individuals who oppose abortion, want limits on sexual content in classrooms and libraries or are interested in reforming social programs like Medicare and Social Security.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said on September 1 from Philadelphia.
Biden made comments in his speech Thursday that reaffirmed that he believes pro-lifers as well as those who hold to the Biblical view of marriage are “MAGA Republicans.”
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” Biden said.
“But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can: We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy,” he said.
The White House denied that the speech was “political,” although a majority of surveyed Democrats agreed the content was appropriate as “campaign messaging.”
The speech drew widespread criticism due to the heated rhetoric as well as staging, as Biden appeared in front of a blood red backdrop while two Marines were ordered to be stationed behind him.
Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake criticized Biden’s comments the following day.
“When [Biden] sees moms & dads, and regular people stepping up and running for office he sees that as an existential threat to his political career. And frankly, @JoeBiden has been in office about 50 years too long,” Lake tweeted.
.@KariLake: “When [Biden] sees moms & dads, and regular people stepping up and running for office he sees that as an existential threat to his political career. And frankly, @JoeBiden has been in office about 50 years too long.” pic.twitter.com/xHxpgff6uv
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) September 2, 2022
“Biden did not attack a political opponent last night, he attacked a movement of half the country. MAGA Republicans heard him loud and clear,” Kayleigh McEnany, the former press secretary for President Donald Trump, tweeted in response to the speech.
Even CNN’s Brianna Keilar found the speech inappropriate. “Whatever you think of this speech, the military is supposed to be apolitical,” Keilar said. “Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.”
Biden tried the next day to deny that he called anyone a threat.
“I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat,” he said in response to a question from Peter Doocy, despite using the term nine times in his speech.
Peter Doocy checks Biden into nursing home after Joe’s brain BREAKS, forgets his FASCIST speech last night about “MAGA Americans”:
BIDEN TODAY: “I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 2, 2022
His Twitter account has returned to the theme of attacking “MAGA” ideas and Republicans throughout the past week.
“Those who love this country must be more committed to saving our democracy than the MAGA agenda is to destroying it,” the official presidential account tweeted on September 7.
“We understand something that MAGA Republicans in Congress don’t. Wall Street didn’t build this country. Working people did,” he tweeted September 5.
“MAGA proposals are a threat to the very soul of this country,” he wrote on September 4.