President Joe Biden, who has long sought to distance himself from the relentless and malicious persecution of his political opponent, told a crowd of supporters in New Hampshire that Donald Trump should be locked up.
Biden’s comments show exactly why Kamala Harris and her campaign had hoped to keep the president off the campaign trail and lock him tight in his basement.
The man who has armed every department under his jurisdiction during his single term as president began by warning voters that the Republican candidate wanted to abolish the Department of Education and “replace every official.”
The crazies were turned on their head when Biden claimed that the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity meant Trump believed him could be “physical eliminate, shoot, killing someone he believes poses a threat to him.”
This is the kind of rhetoric that leads to assassinations of political opponents.
“I know that sounds bizarre,” Biden continued. “It sounds like you’d lock me up if I said that five years ago.”
“We have to lock him up.”
President Joe Biden says out thunderous the still part for Democrats about former President Donald Trump: ‘We have to lock him up’
He just said that during the election campaign in New Hampshire pic.twitter.com/63sdel3eyr
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 22, 2024
The president’s comments were clearly an off-script remark and an allusion to the words he had just said. (I’m just pointing this out because the fact checkers will have cleaned up this comment on his behalf within a few hours, I’m pretty sure.)
But it’s the kind of talk we’ve become accustomed to. Incredibly reminiscent of his comments about Mitt Romney in 2012.Unleashing Wall Street“ – “They will put you all in chains again.”
Sensing the mistake he had just made, Biden paused for nearly five seconds before adding the “political” disclaimer.
“Lock him up politically,” he said as the crowd already cheered the idea of Trump in a prison cell.
Harris has spent much of the campaign trying to rein in supporters chanting “lock him up.”
“Well, wait a minute, you know what? The courts will take care of that part,” she said at a Rally in Wisconsin last August. “We will beat them in November.”
Biden quickly scuttled that attempt during a scarce speech on behalf of Harris. It’s almost as if he’s trying to sabotage his successor at every turn.
The president has insisted throughout his term that he had nothing to do with the politically motivated prosecutions that Trump has repeatedly faced to keep him out of the White House.
“Because you’ll notice that I have never, not once, suggested to the Justice Department what they should or shouldn’t do, whether it’s to file charges or not to file charges,” Biden said at a news conference press conference in 2023. “I’ll be honest.”
Was he truthful then or accidentally truthful now?
Trump has respectfully disagreed that Biden has pristine hands on the matter.
“You are in full communication with the White House and the DOJ, just so you understand,” Trump said regarding the cases he is confronted. “This is all being done by Biden and his people.”
Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. These allegations stemmed from a hush money payment made by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen during the 2016 election. His sentencing in the matter is scheduled for three weeks after the election.
Additionally, the former president faces federal charges in D.C. and federal charges in Georgia over his efforts to challenge his loss to Biden in the 2020 election. And special counsel Jack Smith is appealing the dismissal of the federal case against him in Florida over alleged mishandling of confidential documents.
Biden’s comment, regardless of intent, will undoubtedly reignite efforts by Trump and his supporters to suggest so current President, not that formerwho used the Justice Department and cordial Democratic prosecutors against his political opponents.
Update – 7:30 p.m. Eastern:
The Trump campaign has now responded to Biden’s comments:
“Joe Biden just admitted the truth: His and Kamala’s plan has always been to politically persecute their opponent, President Trump, because they cannot beat him fair and square. The Harris-Biden Administrator is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.” – Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary
