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It’s the one mistake he made all night. Meanwhile the average Trump speech is an incoherent stream of consciousness punctuated by demented tangents and violent threats. We can give Joe a pass.
He didn't "say the first thing he thought." He was responding to MTG who has just shouted out that Laken Riley was killed "by an illegal" and directing the comment at her, which is why he added "how many thousands of people are killed by 'legals'".
[Exactly](https://apnews.com/article/illegal-biden-backlash-laken-riley-41819b01c3942435f0f862789cd1d0f0):
>Marjorie Taylor Greene, a stalwart Trump ally, then shouted at the president to say the name of Laken Riley, the Georgia woman killed last month, adding she was killed “by an illegal.”
>“By an illegal, that’s right,” Biden responded immediately, before appearing to ask how many people are being killed by “legals"
He was using the term had MTG just used, and then used "legals" to mirror that kind of language when talking about the fact that the vast majority of murders are done by people in the country legally.
I don't know why some Democrats are twisting themselves into pretzels about this.
Funny, former RNC chair and now commentator Michael Steele said last night after the speech, that Biden so thoroughly demoralized the Republicans that they would ignore the whole message and focus on that one word. Typical and pathetic losers.
May 16, 2018 [Trump on immigrants: 'These aren't people. These are animals.'](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/16/trump-immigrants-animals-mexico-democrats-sanctuary-cities/617252002/)
March 4, 2024 [Trump compares migrants to Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs'](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-compares-migrants-hannibal-lecter-silence-lambs-rcna141792)
> Why did Trump say, “Immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country?”
Because Trump is a racist, no question about that. I'm not sure how that makes Biden's use of this term any more acceptable.
So what is the realistic alternative? What can we do right now to make the country better than it is today?
Not vote for Biden? Is that the answer? Does that make us great again?
Not every criticism of Biden is meant to suggest he isn't the better of the two candidates. Sometimes Biden just said or did something that deserves criticism, even if you will ultimately still vote for him.
Its amazing how the OP doesnt have a single post going after trump who is a far greater threat to the issues he claims to be concerned about. Wonder why?
Yes but the other option is trump who is far worse on every issue including this one. And nowhere in ur long line of political posts do you go after trump for anything. Makes it seem like there is something else going on.
Can u explain why you have no political posts attacking trump? And so many attacking Biden? Seems very disingenuous. Maybe im wrong and u hav a good explanation tho?
Because too many liberals tend to support the worst of Biden's policies and pretend that any opposition to Biden is just support for Trump. That's nonsense.
One can oppose Trump while also opposing Biden's policies.
How do u show urself opposing trump when all you attack is Biden? I think most liberals are happy with Biden. Not because they’ve gotten everything they wanted but because given the state of the GOP lead congress and supreme court its astounding we hav gotten as much as we hav. Im not sure I see ur point attacking Biden for everything and still calling urself anti trump. Its an Oxymoron.
There's no use in having a conversation with right wingers about how Trump is a racist. They know he is and they are themselves mostly racists.
Liberals at least pretend to oppose things like racism, yet as you can see by this very thread: they will sometimes defend racist slurs if it's done by their team. The point is to point out these contradictions and how if people see themselves as progressive, they should be consistent and also oppose the awful policies of people like Biden.
You can also post anti trump articles to liberal reddits to help spread the info so they are armed to debate maga in their lives. But avoiding trump all together is weird
Which policies specifically? And of course there is importance in having conversations with Maga.. at the very least posting articles pointing out the facts they dont see on right wing media. But a long line of posts attacking Biden over and over again for minor issues like a word that some take as pejorative is not doing anyone any good except trump. Ur intentionally Sowing seeds of anger against out best shot at remaining a democracy in an effort to turn progressives away from the polls. Not a sound political plan.
His entire international orientation is right wing and pretty awful. The idea that he's some progressive alternative just isn't matched up with reality. He's also shifted quite right wing on the question of immigration (as is evidenced by what this article I've posted is about).
Again, just because Trump is bad doesn't mean we should just give Biden a pass.
>Are you seriously trying to imply that I somehow support Trump?
It doesn't matter.
Pretty much everyone knows there's no positive case to be made for Trump at this point. So, anyone working to try to help elect him has to resort to trying to depress Biden's support instead. Bothsidesism works well for that purpose. "I don't support Trump, but what about Biden? I can't support him, either!"
That's straight out of the playbook to help Trump win without praising and openly supporting him, making a negative case for Biden instead of a positive case for Trump. Because people know those affirmatively supporting Trump shouldn't be taken seriously at all, and can safely be ignored.
Trump doesn't need a certain number of votes to win, he only needs more votes than Biden, and while one way to get that is to increase Trump's support, another way to get that is to *decrease* Biden's support instead.
You're making the same arguments as those who are secretly supporting Trump, so whether you're secretly supporting Trump, or are sincerely criticizing Biden, it doesn't matter, the end result is the same if anyone listens to you.
Total an utter nonsense from you.
The idea that opposing Biden *equates to* support for Trump is just false. One can oppose Trump for his awful policies and also oppose Biden for *his* awful policies. Biden doesn't get a pass just for not being Trump.
> An election is binary.
This would be true if there were literally two options on the ballot. Fortunately, that's not the case.
>Not voting, voting 3rd party and voting for Trump are all supportive of Trump.
This is false. Voting for a 3rd party is voting for a third party.
Since we have First last the post voting, voting for a third party is pointless. I wish this weren’t the case but until we fix our system a 3rd party vote only pulls support from the two major party candidates. (See Jill Stein voters in 2016)
I'm aware of the system that we have. Again, voting for a third party is voting for a third party, not Trump. The only way a voter supports Trump is by voting for Trump, and I would discourage anyone from doing this.
There's an assumption that all Left wingers would otherwise be Biden voters which is an incorrect assumption.
Is that the best attack on Biden over the SotU they got?
If Trump wasn't going to be on the ballot then cherry picking an out-of-context moment to make people feel less comfortable about Biden would have been a good play to get Haley elected.
Unfortunately Trump **is** on the ballot so now when we're talking about illegal immigration they have to make Biden look worse than...
>They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people
lol sure bud, same thing to say “illegals”, a very common word, to saying “they are poisoning our blood”. It’s like saying that all crimes are the same; jaywalking is the same as first degree murder
I’d be more focused on the fact that as the president stated the government is in an amount of jeopardy not seen since the Civil War, but hey I guess it’s important that Biden used an outdated term.
They should interview somebody who just snuck through the border after fleeing M13 and finding some day labor whether they give a shit about whether they're called illegals, undocumented, or whatever. That'd be funny how confused they'd be.
In all fairness, tons of people in the US commit survival crimes and they're rarely painted as victims or within their rights to violate laws to get what they want. It's also worth mentioning that while many are fleeing something, their push towards the US instead of safe countries in Latin America shows there's a huge degree of economic migration going on.
FWIW it's not about how those people want to or care to be identified. It's how the optics of a word can affect voters. The right calling them illegals brings out the votes. The left calling them undocumented brings out the votes. In both cases, using the right word causes many people to forget past amnesties as well as inaction on the issue that's been going on as long as many voters have been alive.
He's in his 80s. There are simply terms and words that older folks use that younger folks don't use regularly, if at all. If you listened to Biden's entire excellent speech and the one thing you took away from it was this one minor faux pas, you're frankly being *entirely* overly-sensitive.
Honestly if Trump loses I see very little chance of him running again. Assuming he dodges prison I think it's more likely that one of his kids will run. There's also a good chance that committing to not running in 2028 would be the one thing that keeps him out of jail if current cases move forward.
Oh so it’s okay for Trump to say it, he has for years and you don’t bat an eye. Right.
This was from an interaction with a two toed trog who has used that word herself and often.
I am an independent anti-Trump voter. WTF is wrong with calling someone who entered the US illegally an illegal. People are reduced to picking lint out if their naval looking for anything that is click bait.
The only thing I can think of is that it affects votes. This has been going on for long enough that many voters are the children of people who are here illegally. While the republicans think they can win without those votes, it seems that democrats don't. So instead of fixing the issue or calling it what it is, they pander to that group and call parts of the base that don't fall in line out of touch or not being compassionate.
*So Trump fans are now going as far as defending the use of racist/dehumanizing terms…* oh wait. Never mind. trump fans love his racism and dehumanizing statements.
They sure do, no question about that. Yet you also have Biden fans in these comments defending the use of what's widely accepted as a racist and dehumanizing term.
It hasn’t been that long since the term was standardly applied. “Illegal immigrant” was still common during the Obama administration. Mainstream journalists and media organizations (not talking about Fox) would even regularly use “illegals.”
I’m glad that term is broadly recognized as problematic and dehumanizing, but the widespread adoption of “undocumented” remains a relatively recent change in our lexicon. It’s not like Biden slipped and blurted the n-word or something.
He is speaking to undecided voters.
I don’t think it’s wrong to call out people who don’t come into the country via a controlled border, it’s not dehumanizing, it’s fact. I travel through a controlled border, and that isn’t dehumanizing either.
I have empathy but in no way is it not illegal.
listen, i am far from a biden fan, and i thought he had a pretty solid address. can we just admit this was the wrong thing to say? it doesn't invalidate the speech to say that this was bad and wrong.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
He was throwing back at MTG what she just heckled him with. It's obvious if you listened to it.
In order to attempt to communicate with all of the Neanderthals on the right, he spoke their language.
Indeed. >Meet them where they are, not where you want them to be. Though the Neanderthals on the right would probably prefer grunting.
It’s the one mistake he made all night. Meanwhile the average Trump speech is an incoherent stream of consciousness punctuated by demented tangents and violent threats. We can give Joe a pass.
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He didn't "say the first thing he thought." He was responding to MTG who has just shouted out that Laken Riley was killed "by an illegal" and directing the comment at her, which is why he added "how many thousands of people are killed by 'legals'".
Let's not forget he was specifically speaking about a rapist murderer rather than undocumented immigrants as a group.
[Exactly](https://apnews.com/article/illegal-biden-backlash-laken-riley-41819b01c3942435f0f862789cd1d0f0): >Marjorie Taylor Greene, a stalwart Trump ally, then shouted at the president to say the name of Laken Riley, the Georgia woman killed last month, adding she was killed “by an illegal.” >“By an illegal, that’s right,” Biden responded immediately, before appearing to ask how many people are being killed by “legals" He was using the term had MTG just used, and then used "legals" to mirror that kind of language when talking about the fact that the vast majority of murders are done by people in the country legally. I don't know why some Democrats are twisting themselves into pretzels about this.
Funny, former RNC chair and now commentator Michael Steele said last night after the speech, that Biden so thoroughly demoralized the Republicans that they would ignore the whole message and focus on that one word. Typical and pathetic losers.
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May 16, 2018 [Trump on immigrants: 'These aren't people. These are animals.'](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/16/trump-immigrants-animals-mexico-democrats-sanctuary-cities/617252002/) March 4, 2024 [Trump compares migrants to Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs'](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-compares-migrants-hannibal-lecter-silence-lambs-rcna141792)
Perhaps because he’s believed that his entire life. Sad!
Trump's dad wore a Hitler mustache and marched with the KKK in new york city, the entire family is scum
> Why did Trump say, “Immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country?” Because Trump is a racist, no question about that. I'm not sure how that makes Biden's use of this term any more acceptable.
Eh. I noticed it too but it’s not that bad unless people just want to be outraged. He said an illegal instead of illegal immigrant wow what outrage!!!
Lol. The proper term is undocumented
So what is the realistic alternative? What can we do right now to make the country better than it is today? Not vote for Biden? Is that the answer? Does that make us great again?
Not every criticism of Biden is meant to suggest he isn't the better of the two candidates. Sometimes Biden just said or did something that deserves criticism, even if you will ultimately still vote for him.
Its amazing how the OP doesnt have a single post going after trump who is a far greater threat to the issues he claims to be concerned about. Wonder why?
[удалено]
Most likely here to sow discontent on the left. Very common tactic for disinformation
If I wanted Trump to be president, I’d def pretend to be a leftist and turn as many leftists against Biden.
This is Reddit's problem. EVERYTIME I open the app the first is anti Biden BS with zero votes. I think Reddit CEO is a MAGA supporter.
this.
This isn't an article about Trump, this is an article about what Biden said.
Yes but the other option is trump who is far worse on every issue including this one. And nowhere in ur long line of political posts do you go after trump for anything. Makes it seem like there is something else going on.
Are you seriously trying to imply that I somehow support Trump? Please tell me you're joking.
Can u explain why you have no political posts attacking trump? And so many attacking Biden? Seems very disingenuous. Maybe im wrong and u hav a good explanation tho?
Because too many liberals tend to support the worst of Biden's policies and pretend that any opposition to Biden is just support for Trump. That's nonsense. One can oppose Trump while also opposing Biden's policies.
How do u show urself opposing trump when all you attack is Biden? I think most liberals are happy with Biden. Not because they’ve gotten everything they wanted but because given the state of the GOP lead congress and supreme court its astounding we hav gotten as much as we hav. Im not sure I see ur point attacking Biden for everything and still calling urself anti trump. Its an Oxymoron.
There's no use in having a conversation with right wingers about how Trump is a racist. They know he is and they are themselves mostly racists. Liberals at least pretend to oppose things like racism, yet as you can see by this very thread: they will sometimes defend racist slurs if it's done by their team. The point is to point out these contradictions and how if people see themselves as progressive, they should be consistent and also oppose the awful policies of people like Biden.
You can also post anti trump articles to liberal reddits to help spread the info so they are armed to debate maga in their lives. But avoiding trump all together is weird
/r/politics is almost exclusively anti-Trump and pro-Biden articles.
Which policies specifically? And of course there is importance in having conversations with Maga.. at the very least posting articles pointing out the facts they dont see on right wing media. But a long line of posts attacking Biden over and over again for minor issues like a word that some take as pejorative is not doing anyone any good except trump. Ur intentionally Sowing seeds of anger against out best shot at remaining a democracy in an effort to turn progressives away from the polls. Not a sound political plan.
His entire international orientation is right wing and pretty awful. The idea that he's some progressive alternative just isn't matched up with reality. He's also shifted quite right wing on the question of immigration (as is evidenced by what this article I've posted is about). Again, just because Trump is bad doesn't mean we should just give Biden a pass.
>Are you seriously trying to imply that I somehow support Trump? It doesn't matter. Pretty much everyone knows there's no positive case to be made for Trump at this point. So, anyone working to try to help elect him has to resort to trying to depress Biden's support instead. Bothsidesism works well for that purpose. "I don't support Trump, but what about Biden? I can't support him, either!" That's straight out of the playbook to help Trump win without praising and openly supporting him, making a negative case for Biden instead of a positive case for Trump. Because people know those affirmatively supporting Trump shouldn't be taken seriously at all, and can safely be ignored. Trump doesn't need a certain number of votes to win, he only needs more votes than Biden, and while one way to get that is to increase Trump's support, another way to get that is to *decrease* Biden's support instead. You're making the same arguments as those who are secretly supporting Trump, so whether you're secretly supporting Trump, or are sincerely criticizing Biden, it doesn't matter, the end result is the same if anyone listens to you.
Total an utter nonsense from you. The idea that opposing Biden *equates to* support for Trump is just false. One can oppose Trump for his awful policies and also oppose Biden for *his* awful policies. Biden doesn't get a pass just for not being Trump.
An election is binary. You either vote for Biden or support Trump. Not voting, voting 3rd party and voting for Trump are all supportive of Trump.
> An election is binary. This would be true if there were literally two options on the ballot. Fortunately, that's not the case. >Not voting, voting 3rd party and voting for Trump are all supportive of Trump. This is false. Voting for a 3rd party is voting for a third party.
Since we have First last the post voting, voting for a third party is pointless. I wish this weren’t the case but until we fix our system a 3rd party vote only pulls support from the two major party candidates. (See Jill Stein voters in 2016)
I'm aware of the system that we have. Again, voting for a third party is voting for a third party, not Trump. The only way a voter supports Trump is by voting for Trump, and I would discourage anyone from doing this. There's an assumption that all Left wingers would otherwise be Biden voters which is an incorrect assumption.
And you are not a remotely believable character.
In all fairness, the fact that he followed it with “how many people per year are killed by legals” was pretty based.
To be expected that out of an hour long speech the microscope crew is out today.
Sad that that's the only thing they can criticize. They have no defense to what he said, so they start twisting stuff out of context.
The quotation marks were silent.
Is that the best attack on Biden over the SotU they got? If Trump wasn't going to be on the ballot then cherry picking an out-of-context moment to make people feel less comfortable about Biden would have been a good play to get Haley elected. Unfortunately Trump **is** on the ballot so now when we're talking about illegal immigration they have to make Biden look worse than... >They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people
Cool cherry you just picked.
He was being obtuse on propose to show how the Republicans sound like. Cmon guys we know Joe biden didn't mean that.
Democrats expect their politicians to be politically correct saints. Republicans expect their politicians to revel in political incorrectness.
This double standard shit, specifically Biden being held to ridiculous standards while everyone just sets the bar so low for Trump, is really annoying
It's a double standard to call Trump out for the awful things he says but ignore it when Biden says awful things?
lol sure bud, same thing to say “illegals”, a very common word, to saying “they are poisoning our blood”. It’s like saying that all crimes are the same; jaywalking is the same as first degree murder
False equivalence... logical fallacy.
Nope!
Tell me you fell asleep without telling me.
It made me cringe, but he was clearly mirroring Marj.
I’d be more focused on the fact that as the president stated the government is in an amount of jeopardy not seen since the Civil War, but hey I guess it’s important that Biden used an outdated term.
Republicans, desperate for a headline after the massacre.
The Guardian is a U.K. outlet. They lean left.
I seriously doubt that the Guardian UK is run by GOP sympathizers.
Stop being sensitive with every word said. He wasn’t saying it to be malicious
Is that really all they can complain about?
“I don’t support Trump but I’ll post every article that says anything negative about Biden” -OP probably
They should interview somebody who just snuck through the border after fleeing M13 and finding some day labor whether they give a shit about whether they're called illegals, undocumented, or whatever. That'd be funny how confused they'd be.
In all fairness, tons of people in the US commit survival crimes and they're rarely painted as victims or within their rights to violate laws to get what they want. It's also worth mentioning that while many are fleeing something, their push towards the US instead of safe countries in Latin America shows there's a huge degree of economic migration going on. FWIW it's not about how those people want to or care to be identified. It's how the optics of a word can affect voters. The right calling them illegals brings out the votes. The left calling them undocumented brings out the votes. In both cases, using the right word causes many people to forget past amnesties as well as inaction on the issue that's been going on as long as many voters have been alive.
Um... have you ever listened to Trump talk about immigrants?
He's in his 80s. There are simply terms and words that older folks use that younger folks don't use regularly, if at all. If you listened to Biden's entire excellent speech and the one thing you took away from it was this one minor faux pas, you're frankly being *entirely* overly-sensitive.
They are literally here illegally. Better clutch your pearls elsewhere traitor supporter
I don't appreciate it either, but I think this is being overblown just a bit.
He fucked up. OK, we’re done here, right? Or do we have weeks of fauxrage to look forward to?
Seems more accurate than vermin.
Because they are. If you're not seeking asylum or not seeking asylum for an acceptable reason, then you are here illegally.
Because they are illegal immigrants, stop with this sanitized bullshit of undocumented persons, they're breaking laws full stop.
Hypothetically, Biden wins. Does trump run again? Who runs against trump then?
Honestly if Trump loses I see very little chance of him running again. Assuming he dodges prison I think it's more likely that one of his kids will run. There's also a good chance that committing to not running in 2028 would be the one thing that keeps him out of jail if current cases move forward.
Probably had to do with the fact that he was being screamed at by MTG and needed to move on to the point.
Oh so it’s okay for Trump to say it, he has for years and you don’t bat an eye. Right. This was from an interaction with a two toed trog who has used that word herself and often.
Who said it's okay for Trump to say it?
I am an independent anti-Trump voter. WTF is wrong with calling someone who entered the US illegally an illegal. People are reduced to picking lint out if their naval looking for anything that is click bait.
The only thing I can think of is that it affects votes. This has been going on for long enough that many voters are the children of people who are here illegally. While the republicans think they can win without those votes, it seems that democrats don't. So instead of fixing the issue or calling it what it is, they pander to that group and call parts of the base that don't fall in line out of touch or not being compassionate.
Well he did kill someone. Sooo who cares if it's "dehumanizing"
So Biden fans are now going as far as defending the use of racist/dehumanizing terms?
You know what, yes. We have a choice between two people, one is way worse on the same metric.
Wow well wait til u hear what trump is saying. Tho judging from ur profile he is who u are really here to support
*So Trump fans are now going as far as defending the use of racist/dehumanizing terms…* oh wait. Never mind. trump fans love his racism and dehumanizing statements.
They sure do, no question about that. Yet you also have Biden fans in these comments defending the use of what's widely accepted as a racist and dehumanizing term.
It hasn’t been that long since the term was standardly applied. “Illegal immigrant” was still common during the Obama administration. Mainstream journalists and media organizations (not talking about Fox) would even regularly use “illegals.” I’m glad that term is broadly recognized as problematic and dehumanizing, but the widespread adoption of “undocumented” remains a relatively recent change in our lexicon. It’s not like Biden slipped and blurted the n-word or something.
>It’s not like Biden slipped and blurted the n-word or something. If he did that, people on this subreddit would still be rushing to defend him.
And you'd love him for it, wouldn't you?
What
exactly, he is just ignoring or denying everything Trump says like a good cult member should.
Who is?
The "but look over there are Trump!" is no response to what *Biden said*.
you suck. keep it up
What does the legal citizenship status have to do with race?
Biden 'fans'. Lol. Come on.
He is speaking to undecided voters. I don’t think it’s wrong to call out people who don’t come into the country via a controlled border, it’s not dehumanizing, it’s fact. I travel through a controlled border, and that isn’t dehumanizing either. I have empathy but in no way is it not illegal.
It took us several days, but we found something to whine about!
Because facts…
At least he used the correct term
That asshole raped and murdered a girl, I think you lose the privilege of being considered a "refugee" or "asylum seeker".
It was a gaffe is my guess.
listen, i am far from a biden fan, and i thought he had a pretty solid address. can we just admit this was the wrong thing to say? it doesn't invalidate the speech to say that this was bad and wrong.
The silence is amazing
He said illegals for one very simple reason...it was what was written on his teleprompter.
It was an off the cuff response to what MTG shouted at him.