Biden spoke on Sunday after Congress successfully prevented a government shutdown, seemingly taking credit for the deal. However, during his statement, Biden appeared visibly aged, experienced moments of confusion, and even stumbled over his attempt to criticize MAGA Republicans.
Biden faced additional challenges on Sunday when he was interviewed by John Harwood of ProPublica, who had previously left CNN. Both Biden and Harwood framed the interview around the topic of the “threat” to democracy.
Despite being interviewed by a sympathetic liberal journalist, Biden found himself in a difficult situation due to his remarks. Two noteworthy moments stood out. Firstly, there was a peculiar comment about the late former Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) that appeared to be factually incorrect.
Biden said, “When I left the Senate, I was able to convince Strom Thurmond to vote for the Voting Rights Act.”
However, as the video clip highlights, Thurmond passed away in 2003, whereas Biden remained in the Senate until 2009. Furthermore, the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, prior to Biden taking office.
Biden seemed unaware of the misinformation in his statement.
Then Harwood asked, “What about what Elon Musk has done to Twitter? Lowering guardrails to misinformation, does that contribute to it?”
Biden replied, “Yeah, it does.” Then he said that people nowadays turn to the internet to access news, where they have “no notion of whether it’s true or not.”
It’s quite ironic to hear Biden discuss misinformation, especially considering instances like the Thurmond claim mentioned earlier.
Musk posted his response to a clip of the interview on X, formerly Twitter, “Lmaooo.”
Lmaooo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2023
Biden also speculated that the MAGA Republican movement might appear weakened but still poses a significant threat.
He said, “I think that this is the last gasp or maybe the first big gasp of the MAGA Republicans. And I think Trump has concluded that he has to win.”
Harwood inquired if the threat to democracy might be less significant than anticipated, given the absence of violence during the 2022 midterm elections.
Biden replied, “I think the opposite thing is happening, John. Trump will pull out all the stops. I mean, the quotes he uses are just — I never thought I’d hear a president say some of the stuff he says.”
