Biden backpedaling over ‘MAGA Republicans’ insult

President Biden’s “MAGA Republicans” snipe has him backpedaling.

It was reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” knock on Donald Trump supporters in September of 2016, but this time Biden’s camp was trying to limit the damage Friday.

Senior White House officials defended Biden’s prime-time speech Thursday in Philadelphia in which he forcefully called Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement a “threat” to the country.

Biden even offered a clarification about those who still support his predecessor — but he did not back down from the alarms he sounded.

“I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country,” he told reporters after an economic event Friday. “I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, fails to condemn violence when it’s used, refuses to acknowledge an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which we rule and count votes, that is a threat to democracy.”

Biden used the Friday question from a Fox News reporter, whose network has aired ample criticism of the Thursday speech, to elaborate on the latter point.

“People voted for Donald Trump and support him now, they weren’t voting for attacking the Capitol,” Biden said of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that occurred after Trump summoned his backers to Washington and urged them to head down Pennsylvania Avenue to “fight like hell.”

Republicans blasted Biden’s Philadelphia speech, including some who are reportedly mulling a 2024 presidential bid and others who remain close allies of Trump.

“That was a campaign speech under the guise of a presidential address,” tweeted Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a possible GOP primary combatant.

“Instead of focusing on issues impacting Americans, Biden demonized half the country to distract from his failures,” Scott added. “We need leaders who work to make this nation stronger & safer, instead of tearing us apart.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., whom a judge ordered to testify to a grand jury about his actions on behalf of Trump after the 2020 election to try to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia, also criticized Biden’s rhetoric as too political.

“With all due respect Mr. President, there’s nothing wrong with America’s soul,” tweeted Graham. “The American people are hurting because of your policies. Rampant inflation. Out of control crime. Terrorism on the rise. Broken borders. Stop lecturing & change your policies before it’s too late.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday acknowledged the Thursday address “wasn’t just a policy speech, obviously.”

But she stopped short of saying it was political in nature, even in part. She also signaled that the administration is not developing any policy package intended to shield the country’s political system and governance structure from the perceived MAGA-Trump “threat.”

Harking back to part of the 2020 campaign platform that Biden used to defeat Trump, Jean-Pierre said her boss’s strategy will be to continue calling for unity — even as Trump and other Republicans criticize him daily for governing as a progressive after selling himself as a bipartisan deal-maker and national unifier.