White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded in her usual Kafkaesque fashion to a simple question from a reporter. CNN reporter Don Lemon asked the press secretary to explain what the president meant when he described Republican policies as “semi-facism.”
“It’s not just Trump,” President Joe Biden said at a Maryland fundraiser Thursday, “it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the – I’m going to say something: It’s like semi-fascism.”
President Biden ironically followed with comment demonizing former President Donald Trump and his millions of supporters.
“The whole notion of the burn-it-all-down politics and MAGA Republicans continues to be a drumbeat,” President Biden said.
Equating political opponents to followers of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin hardly seems like calming rhetoric from a leader who promised to heal the country by uniting Americans of all beliefs.
Lemon requested clarification from Jean-Pierre while hosting her on his network program.
“What exactly is semi-fascism, Karine?” Lemon asked.
“Thank you for having me because this is really important,” the press secretary said from outside the White House. “The American people have a choice in front of them and the president laid that out very clearly, very powerfully tonight. When you look at what Democrats are doing and what they are delivering, and what they have done, Don, in less than two years, which is lowering costs on prescription drugs, lowering the energy costs, making sure that we have this historic legislation to really deal with [the] climate crisis. All of these things are important —”
“And they are,” Lemon interjected.
The network host interrupted the campaign rhetoric to ask her again what President Biden meant when he called Trump’s MAGA movement “semi-facism.”
Watch:
CNN-host-White-House-press-secretary-clash-over-semi-fascism
“Karine, I want to get to all of those things with all due respect, but we have a short time,” he continued. “I’m going to get to all those things, but if you’ll answer my question.”
“I am,” Jean-Pierre testily replied. “I was just about to get to your question. I really was… You brought me on the show for a reason. And I have to talk about — .”
“I understand that, I just have limited time with you,” Lemon reminded her. “I just want to make sure that we get all the answers.”
“Well, by having this back and forth, we are actually taking away from the time. So here we go,” Jean-Pierre retorted.
“So what we’re seeing from Republicans and what we have seen from Republicans these past several years is that they are attacking our democracy,” Biden’s press secretary said. “They are taking away our freedom. And they are trying to put on the chopping blocks Medicare and Social Security.”
“That’s what we are seeing, and it’s being done — if you look at the Republican Party, it is being done by this element, this MAGA element of the Republican Party,” Jean-Pierre added. “And that is what we are trying to prevent.”
“That’s what you heard from the president today.”
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
