CNN’s King praises Biden speech, says Democratic critics are having 'silly Washington conversations'
CNN anchor John King praised President Biden’s Wednesday speech on the threat Republicans allegedly pose to democracy, claiming "fact-check: true" in response to Biden’s assertions that election deniers on the ballot will bring "chaos" to America.
CNN anchor John King praised President Joe Biden’s Wednesday speech on the threat of extremist Republicans towards democracy, claiming "fact-check: true" in response to Biden’s assertions that election deniers on the ballot will bring "chaos" to America.
King also opined to his "Inside Politics" panel that Biden's fellow Democrats who are criticizing his speech for not focusing on more pressing issues like crime or the economy, are having "silly Washington conversations."
King began his Thursday show by discussing the contents of Biden’s speech with CNN political analysts Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Seung Min Kim, and Washington Post congressional reporter Mariann Sotomayor.
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CNN anchor John King expressed frustration with Democrat critics of President Joe Biden's Wednesday speech. (Screenshot/CNN)
He introduced the segment by airing a clip of Biden’s speech in which the president claimed that the election deniers on midterm ballots are a threat to the country. Biden stated, "There are candidates running for every level of office in America, for governor, Congress, attorney general, Secretary of State, who won’t commit – they will not commit to accepting the results of the election that they’re running in."
Biden added, "This is a path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented, it’s unlawful and it’s un-American."
After playing the clip, King turned to his guests and quipped, "Fact-check true."
He added, "There is no question there are Republicans running at every level across the country who either still say ‘Donald Trump won last time,’ or say, ‘Maybe I won’t accept the results this time’ or ‘I want to change the rules or allow legislatures to change the will of the voters.’ And yet there is some criticism of the president giving that speech last night."
Poking at these dissenters of Biden’s speech, King claimed they were engaged in "some mumbling within his own party." He then asked his guests why some Democrats weren’t satisfied.
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US President Joe Biden speaks at a Democratic National Committee event in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Biden issued a fresh warning about threats to US democracy less than a week before Election Day. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kim responded first, telling the anchor, "Well, I think right now what Democrats really want to focus on is telling voters that on the economy and inflation, which is the number one issue for voters, that Democrats are the party with a plan and if that focus veers in any other direction it could be perceived as a distraction."
Though Kim acknowledged that Biden believes that the election deniers represent an "existential issue" for the country.
King admitted that Kim was "dead right" and cited a CNN poll showing that the majority of the country is worried mostly about the "economy and inflation."
Though he pushed back on the frustration with the speech not dealing with the economy, asking why Democrats can focus on other issues in addition to the economy.
"But is this the idea that, okay, Democrats think we should be talking just about economy and inflation, or is this one of what I call ‘silly Washington conversations,’ where people watching sometimes think we can only do one thing at a time?"
President Joe Biden gives a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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Bolstering his point, King argued, "Ask an American family, you know, two and a half years into COVID, months into the inflation problem, dealing with schools and everything else. They do every day multi-process. Why can’t this town?"
Kanno-Youngs agreed, stating, "Voters can care about multiple issues at the same time, even while polls do indicate that some of the issues that overshadow others are the economy and rising crime."