() –– US President Joe Biden believes his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, is a fascist, the White House said Wednesday, the clearest sign yet of what Biden believes is at stake less than two weeks away. of the elections.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s comments came a day after a series of articles reported that White House chief of staff under President Trump, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly , said that the former president fits “the general definition of a fascist” and wanted the “type of generals that Hitler had.”
Asked by ‘s MJ Lee if the White House agreed with Kelly’s assessment of his former boss, Jean-Pierre launched into a lengthy response about the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol before finally saying that “yes,” that the White House agreed with that statement.
“Look, you’ve heard this president talk over and over again about threats to democracy, and the president has talked about it. They have heard the former president himself say that he is going to be a dictator from day one. This is him, not us. “This is him,” he said.
Jean-Pierre was referring to a Fox News town hall that Trump participated in late last year. Fox News’ Sean Hannity tried to give Trump a chance to assure Americans that he would not abuse the power of his office if he won a second term, but the former president responded: “Except the first day. “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
Jean-Pierre added later Wednesday: “I know that the vice president just talked about this, about agreeing with that decision. Yes, we are. “We are.”
When Biden was asked directly if he believes Trump is a fascist, Jean-Pierre responded: “Yes, the former president has said he will be a dictator from day one. “We can’t ignore that.”
While Biden has frequently presented this election as a matter of choosing between the future of democracy in the United States and its possible destruction, Jean-Pierre’s response on Wednesday is one of the strongest denunciations against the former president that emerged from the White House briefing room during Biden’s term.
It’s another moment that indicates Biden and his White House are feeling less constrained now that his term is entering its final months. The president had made appealing to moderate Republicans a part of his re-election strategy before dropping out of the race in July, and while he frequently called Trump a “threat to democracy,” he had not been as forceful. Previously, Biden said more than two years ago that “semi-fascism” underpins the Make America Great Again (MAGA) ideology.
Vice President Kamala Harris has also been outspoken about what she sees as the dangers of a second Trump presidency. In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God earlier this month, the Democratic presidential candidate agreed that Trump “has to do with fascism”.
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