Biden: I Don't View Trump Supporters as Threat to US

President Biden on Friday sought to clarify the withering criticism he leveled against "MAGA Republicans" and former President Trump in a prime-time speech Thursday. Over and over in his speech, Biden referred to them as "extremists," which prompted Steve Doocy of Fox News to ask him Friday if he considered all Trump supporters to be a threat to the country. The answer was no:

• Biden: "You keep trying to make that case. I don't consider any Trump supporters a threat to the country," Biden said. "I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, refuses to acknowledge an election ... changing the way you count votes, that is a threat to democracy."
• Elaborating: “People voted for Donald Trump and support him now, they weren’t voting for attacking the Capitol," he said, per the Hill. "They weren’t voting for overruling an election. They were voting for a philosophy he put forward."

• In the speech: On Thursday night, Biden drew this distinction between "MAGA Republicans" and others in the party: “Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”
• Big line: The takeaway line being widely quoted from the speech is this one: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic."
• Criticism: Republicans have been hammering Biden since the speech, notes the Hill. A typical assessment came from GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, who called it "the most divisive speech in American history from an American president" in a tweet. He also referred to Biden as "Divider-in-Chief."
• The risk: So just how many people belong to the camp that Biden is criticizing? The answer is vague, writes Aaron Blake in the Washington Post. "Biden has been less specific about just how many people he believes to be 'MAGA Republicans' who are a threat to democracy, for obvious reasons," he writes. "And his opponents have sought to expand the universe of people he’s supposedly talking about, for obvious reasons." The risk for Biden here is that "even moderate voters who cast ballots for Trump might feel attacked because they picked a side in the voting booth, twice—even if Biden has repeatedly and explicitly sought to carve them out of the group he’s talking about."

(More President Biden stories.)