Biden unleashes on 'MAGA Republicans,' calls them threat to democracy
Alexandria Hoff reports on White House's defense of Biden rhetoric
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., claimed that Republicans will reject election results they do not like, following President Biden's speech about the "threat" he says the GOP poses to Democracy ahead of the midterm elections.
"If MAGA Republicans take control, they will overturn every election with a result they don't like," Titus tweeted Thursday night following Biden's Philadelphia speech, referring to former President Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again."
Titus, who faces a difficult re-election race in her Las Vegas-area district, also repeated other phrases and sentiments from Biden's speech, stating that "MAGA Republicans want us to go backwards."
"We must come together & defend our democracy," Titus tweeted.
Biden spent his speech Thursday standing in front of a darkly lit Independence Hall in Philadelphia and flanked by U.S. Marines to frame the midterm election this November as a battle between "democracy and equality" and a GOP that would allegedly assault those principles.
"I will not stand by and let elections be stolen by people who simply refuse to believe that they lost," Biden said.
Rep. Dina Titus D-Nev., speaks at the Nevada Democratic Party's election results watch party after winning her race against Republican challenger Joyce Bentley at Caesars Palace on November 6, 2018 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
"MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards," Biden said. "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."
"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic," Biden said. "MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of the law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election."
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The president said that he does not think "every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans." However, he said, the GOP overall is "dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans."
The speech came a week after Biden said the "MAGA Republican" wing of the GOP was equivalent to "semi-fascism."
Republicans have roundly slammed Biden's speech as alienating to Republicans, and called the dark setting ominous.
President Biden, protected by bulletproof glass, delivers remarks on what he calls the "continued battle for the Soul of the Nation" (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the setting for the speech "wildly inappropriate" on America's Newsroom with Dana Perino Friday morning, and said one aspect of Biden's address was particularly concerning.
"Most worrisome, having Marines standing behind him in which he's engaging in political attacks on the 74 million Americans who voted for Republicans in the last election," Cotton said.
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The strategy, Cotton added, was all Biden had left to campaign on going into the midterm elections, where Republicans are considered to have a strong shot at taking back control of Congress.
"What would you expect Joe Biden to talk about? He can't run on his own record. Congressmen and senators can't defend the Democratic record. Think about what he didn't say last night. He didn't say anything about his student loan bailout from last week," Cotton said.
Many House Democrats have not responded to Biden's speech on social media, but a few backed the president's statements, and defended the address against criticism.
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"[The] President who spoke with an out-of-the-ordinary backdrop isn’t the threat — the guy who promised pardons for those who attempted a coup on his behalf is," tweeted Rep. John Garramendi, D-Calif. "You can’t blame both sides for this. One is under criminal investigation and the other isn’t," he added.
Titus' Nevada district is considered a toss-up in Fox News' Power Rankings for the November election, where she faces GOP nominee Mark Robertson, a U.S. Army veteran, whom Trump has not officially endorsed.
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