President Joe Biden used his first personal appearance on a late-night talk show since taking office to shoot his predecessor in the White House and the “hard right” Republican Party in an interview dominated by talk of gun control.
Biden also touched on a number of other hot-button issues such as abortion rights, climate change and inflation during his performance Wednesday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – which came about four months after his last on-the-record interview with a reporter.
The president knocked former President Donald Trump during the 20-minute-long questions and answers as host Jimmy Kimmel questioned the possible use of orders to push through gun control.
Kimmel, who is typically left-leaning, stated that “Trump released them as Halloween candy.”
The president acknowledged that he had issued orders within his power. “But what I do not want to do – and I am not facetious – I do not want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution and constitutional authority,” the commander-in-chief said.
He also targeted the Republicans.
“I’m also being asked, ‘look, Republicans don’t play it square, why are you playing it square?'” Biden said. “Guess what, if we do the same thing they do, our democracy would literally be in danger, and that’s not a joke.”
He went on to say that the GOP party has undergone “a radical shift” since Trump was elected, and moved “hard right”, and its members often vote against what many call “common sense” gun control because they are afraid of being voted out of office.
“This is not your father’s Republican party,” Biden said. “This is a MAGA party, a very different Republican party, and you find people who are worried, I think if they vote for rational arms policy, they will be elected primary and they will lose in a hard right wing. Republican primary election . “
He said, however, that the American people must actually make gun control a voting issue in order to pass the reform measures that are likely to die in the current Senate.
The president also spoke of the recently leaked Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe V. Wade – calling it “ridiculous”.
“I do not think the country will stand for it,” Biden said.
“Clearly, if the decision actually falls, as it does, and these states impose the restrictions they are talking about, it will cause a mini-revolution, and they will vote a lot of these people out of office.”
He said his administration is investigating the possibility of applying ordinances to protect abortion rights, and said federal law is also needed.
Earlier in the interview, Biden proclaimed the success and job growth of the US economy since taking office.
“We have the fastest growing economy in the world,” he said. “Unemployment is down to 3.6 percent. We reduced the deficit last year by $ 320 billion, this year we will reduce it by $ 1.7 trillion.”
However, he admitted that the United States has not escaped the pain of inflation, as food and gas prices have risen, affecting ordinary Americans.
“Inflation is the pioneer of our existence,” he said.
Biden’s visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is his first personal show appearance late at night during his presidency. Last December, the president appeared virtually on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.
It’s also one of the few sit-down interviews the president has given recently – especially with a comedian and left-wing talk show host and not a journalist. Biden has not given an on-the-record, sit-down interview to a reporter in about four months.
