McCarthy calls on Biden to apologize after ‘semi-fascism’ remark
By Daniella Diaz and Jessica Dean, CNN
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday called on President Joe Biden to apologize for invoking fascism to describe the ideology of former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
McCarthy made the remarks during a prebuttal speech ahead of the President’s prime-time address later in the evening. The speech from the House GOP leader marks an effort to counter the President’s message — ahead of the 2022 midterms as Republicans fight to win back control of the House of Representatives.
“President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans — Why? simply because they disagree with his policies,” McCarthy said in his speech. “That is not leadership.”
“When the President speaks tonight at Independence Hall, the first lines out of his mouth should be to apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as ‘fascists,'” McCarthy said.
Biden has likened the philosophy that underpins Trump and those who have stood by him to “semi-facism” — comments that Republicans have seized on to criticize the President.
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden recently told a group of Democratic donors at a private home in Maryland.
“It’s not just Trump,” he went on, “it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something: It’s like semi-fascism.”
Biden is expected to use his speech to reinforce the offensive against extremism in the Republican Party that he has recently made a focus of his messaging as he seeks to tie GOP candidates to his White House predecessor, framing the midterms as a second round against Trump.
The key battleground state of Pennsylvania is serving as the backdrop for both speeches. McCarthy’s speech took place in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, while Biden will speak from Philadelphia.
McCarthy also used his remarks to broadly criticize Democratic control of Congress and the Biden White House, arguing that Americans are struggling and that Democrats are not delivering.
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CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed.
