Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) admitted President Joe Biden’s claim about Republicans and “semi-fascism” was “awkward.”
Still, he went on to defend him.
NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur reported that Durbin said, “Are they leaning toward fascism? Certainly. Certainly—when you deny the results of an election, when you talk about mobs in the street taking over.”
According to Durbin, “Biden had no choice but to speak out.”
He reportedly added, “We cannot ignore the reality of what we’re facing. To fail to acknowledge the results of a lawful election… That is so fundamental to our democracy.”
No. 2 Dem Dick Durbin, on Republicans and fascism, says: "Biden had no choice but to speak out."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 6, 2022
"We cannot ignore the reality of what we're facing," he says. "To fail to acknowledge the results of a lawful election… That is so fundamental to our democracy."
The president has received significant criticism for the remark he made last month while speaking to Democratic donors.
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden said at the time.
He continued, “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called on Biden to apologize for the comment.
“President Biden has chosen to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans. Why? Simply because they disagree with his policies. That is not leadership,” McCarthy said.
Biden continued his rampage against “MAGA Republicans” during a Labor Day speech in Wisconsin.
“I want to be very clear up front, not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology,” Biden said.
He added, “I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans in my whole career.”
Biden argued the “extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division.”
The president’s attacks come just months before the 2022 midterm elections.
According to The Washington Post, Biden is expected to hit another battleground state next week.
The White House said Biden would be heading to Detroit where he will “highlight the electric vehicle manufacturing boom in America thanks to his economic plan,” as the Post reported.
On Friday, the president was invited to the Detroit Auto Show.
“I’ll be there,” Biden said, claiming that he is a “car guy.”