President Joe Biden lashed out on reporters Sunday evening while rambling about his administration, the border crisis and President-elect Donald Trump.
“Is white supremacy still the biggest threat to the United States?” one reporter asked Biden after signing the Social Security Fairness Act into law.
“One of the many threats — look, any kind of [inaudible] of supremacy is a threat to United States. Look, we are the most extensive, multicultural nation in the world. It’s the reason why we’re so strong. It’s the reason why we’re who we are. It’s not a problem. It’s not — it’s not in spite of — I mean, you know, we go all the way back, every major flow of immigrants, from my Irish ancestors in the 1840s to people the Italians came in the turn of the century. I mean, this has been — it’s who we are, and we are so connected to the rest of the world. Everywhere I go, [the] rest of the world gets it,” the president began in response to the question.
Biden then pivoted to talking about the border and his control of the migrant crisis.
“When I became president, the numbers came way down, number one. Number two, we had a circumstance where I pushed very hard for bipartisan agreement to put more people on the border, more, more secret service agent[s], and guess what? He’s on the phone saying, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it, [it will] make me look bad. That bill, that bill is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous,’” he continued.
“I just hope we don’t — and by the way, the actions we take — the only thing by being the oldest president: I know more world leaders than any one of you ever met in your whole goddamn life. And I know them. You know how they think? Not a joke,” the president said, lashing out. “What really hurts is when we talk about immigration, the way we do it, we talk about who I mean this is in the idea we’re going to change the constitutional birthright. If you’re born in the country, you can’t be — you’re not a citizen.”
After Biden finished his rant, White House staff ushered the press out of the room. Before answering the question about whether white supremacy is still the biggest threat to the United States, the 82-year-old was asked if he still believed Trump was a threat to democracy.
“I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy,” Biden said, seemingly referring to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riot.
With just a few weeks left in Biden’s presidency, the president and his aides are reportedly having second thoughts about how he is going out. Biden and his aides have told others, sources told The Washington Post, that they believe the now 82-year-old could have defeated Trump.
Biden also regrets tapping Merrick Garland to be attorney general as he privately complains the head of his Department of Justice didn’t do enough to prosecute Trump, people familiar with his comments told the outlet.
