OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Mere hours after one of the most divisive speeches given by a President of the United States, one of President Joe Biden’s top advisors has announced her resignation.
The president’s top climate advisor, Gina McCarthy, will serve her last day on September 16, after starting at the beginning of the Biden administration and only being expected to stay on a year she stayed longer to assist in the Democrats climate agenda, CNN reported.
She will be succeeded in that position by Ali Zaidik, who has been her deputy.
And in other news, former Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta was appointed to serve as senior adviser to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation.
“Under Gina McCarthy and Ali Zaidi’s leadership, my administration has taken the most aggressive action ever, from historic legislation to bold executive actions, to confront the climate crisis head-on. The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest step forward on clean energy and climate in history, and it paves the way for additional steps we will take to meet our clean energy and climate goals,” the president said.
“We are fortunate that John Podesta will lead our continued innovation and implementation. His deep roots in climate and clean energy policy and his experience at senior levels of government mean we can truly hit the ground running to take advantage of the massive clean energy opportunity in front of us,” he said.
“I am immensely grateful for Gina’s service, and I am proud to announce the promotion of Ali to National Climate Advisor. Gina has been an invaluable member of my senior staff since day 1 of the Administration, and I wish her the best as she moves forward,” he said.
“John Podesta is the founder and chair of the Board of Directors for the Center for American Progress. Podesta also Chairs the board of ClimateWorks Foundation and serves on the Board of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center. Podesta served as counselor to President Barack Obama, where he was responsible for coordinating the administration’s climate policy and initiatives. In 2008, he served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition team. He was a member of the U.N. Secretary General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Podesta previously served as White House chief of staff to President William J. Clinton. He chaired Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president in 2016,” the White House said.
The announcement came shortly after the president targeted “MAGA Republicans” as a threat to democracy.
Biden appeared to accuse roughly half the voting population of being a threat to the nation.
“We must be honest with each other and with ourselves,” Biden said at one point. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” he claimed. “They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election.”
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country,” Biden claimed.
“Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it,” she tweeted.
Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) September 2, 2022
During her “New Day” program Friday morning, Keilar brought on Allison Jaslow, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and herself a U.S. Army veteran, to comment.
“There are a lot of people who are taking issue with us just raising this point,” Jaslow — who said she agreed with the “substance” of Biden’s speech — began.
“Listen, you know, there are Marines that could have organically showed up in some frame, sure, those were obviously men that were put there and they’re different than volunteers that would fill up a stage at a campaign event or even an official event that is put together,” she continued, according to Mediaite.
“And I think — you know, I wasn’t looking for attention when I commented on your point that the military was being unnecessarily politicized in this instance, but it’s true. Somebody made a decision to put those Marines in the shot, and the reality is those Marines didn’t have a choice whether to be there or not,” Jaslow added. “So they could be like myself who if I was in the military still would have agreed with the president and would have welcomed being at the event yesterday, but we don’t know that that’s true.
“And the reality is that, like, we need to make sure that our military is as removed from politics as possible and it’s not right if a Democrat uses the military as a political pawn and it’s not right if the Republican Party does it as well. None of our politicians or elected leaders should do that, and I think it’s important to speak up and say so when it’s done,” she added.
