OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump held his first live rally since, what many believe was, a divisive speech by President Joe Biden against “MAGA Republicans” and he tore into him.
It was also the first rally since the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and he was welcomed by Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
But as he spoke to the crowd he had an absolute agenda, and it was to take apart President Biden.
He called the president’s speech last week the “most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by a [U.S.] president.”
He said President Biden was “vilifying 75 million citizens, plus another probably 75 to 150 [million], if we want to be accurate about it, as threats to democracy and as enemies of the state.”
“You’re all enemies of the state,” he said as the crowd booed Biden. “He’s an enemy of the state if you want to know the truth. The enemy of the state is him and the group that control him, which is circling around him. ‘Do this, do that, Joe.’”
He said President Biden’s speech was nothing but “hatred and anger” before noting the cryptic red background that was panned on the Internet.’
“How’d you like the red lighting behind him like the devil?” he said.
TRUMP on Biden's speech: "The most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by a [U.S.] President… you're all enemies of the state. He's an enemy of the state, if you want to know the truth. The enemy of the state is him and the group that controls him." #TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/ImTkCtTBMS
— Newsmax (@newsmax) September 3, 2022
Former President Trump also took apart President Biden’s speech on his Truth Social platform.
“If you look at the words and meaning of the awkward and angry Biden speech tonight, he threatened America, including with the possible use of military force. He must be insane, or suffering from late stage dementia!” he said on his Truth Social platform.
“Someone should explain to Joe Biden, slowly but passionately, that MAGA means, as powerfully as mere words can get, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! If he doesn’t want to Make America Great Again, which through words, action, and thought, he doesn’t, then he certainly should not be representing the United States of America!” he said.
And it was not the only furious response that President Biden got for his speech.
In a tweet, CNN anchor Brianna Keilar — who is married to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Fernando Luján, a Special Forces officer — ripped Biden for giving his speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia while using U.S. Marines as a backdrop.
“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.
As for his speech, 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.”
Here’s something Joe Biden DOES NOT want you to see.
WATCH: 10 minutes of Democrats denying election results. pic.twitter.com/bJRbzEcIO2
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 1, 2022
“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.
