President Biden on Wednesday assailed Republicans for their support of overturning Roe v. Wade, painting lawmakers and their supporters as extremists determined to take away American rights.
Asked about his reaction to the leaked draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito signaling the court’s intention to strike down the landmark 1973 decision that made abortion a Constitutional right, Mr. Biden offered his sharpest criticism yet of conservatives.
“What are the next things that are going to be attacked?” Mr. Biden said. “Because this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history — in recent American history.”
The president’s comments extended a theme he struck earlier in the day when slammed a tax proposal by Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican.
Mr. Scott’s “Rescue America” plan would expand the tax base to all income earners, taxing the roughly 50% of American households that currently pay no federal income taxes. He said all Americans should have “skin in the game, even if a small amount.”
Mr. Biden called it “extreme.”
“Let me tell you about this ultra MAGA agenda — It’s extreme, as most MAGA things are,” Mr. Biden said of the plan, linking it to former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again ’’ campaign slogan.
“I don’t want to hear Republicans talk about deficits and their ultra MAGA agenda. I want to hear about fairness. I want to hear about decency. I want to hear about helping ordinary people,” he continued.
Mr. Biden zeroed in on the draft opinion, saying access to abortion is part of the right to privacy outlined in the Constitution.
“So the idea that somehow there is an inherent right, that there is no right of privacy, that there is no right,” he said. “There’d been a law saying a married couple could not purchase birth control in the privacy of their bedroom and use it. Well, that got struck down.”
“Now what happens if you have states changing the law, saying that the children who are LGBT, who can’t be in classrooms with other children, is that legit under the way the decision is written?” he said.
Ahead of the November midterms, Mr. Biden has stepped up his attacks on Republicans. Last month, he decried that the GOP “ain’t your father’s Republican Party,” saying it had become a “MAGA Party.” He also said that GOP lawmakers “who know better” are too afraid to “act correctly” because they fear losing a primary.
Soaring inflation, rising gas prices and Mr. Biden’s low approval ratings have forced him to sharpen his rhetoric as Democrats fear major losses in the November midterms.
On Tuesday, he called the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion “radical.”
“All of the decisions you make in private life, who you marry, whether you can have an abortion, how you raise your child … it is a fundamental shift,” he said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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