Biden uses world stage to trash Trump: Says his 'phony populism' has 'fractured' the GOP and criticizes Republicans who are reluctant to take him on
President Joe Biden said Monday that former President Donald Trump's 'phony populism' has 'fractured' the Republican Party and criticized GOP lawmakers unwilling to take a stand against the ex-president.
At his press conference Monday night from Brussels, Belgium to conclude his day at the NATO summit, Biden was asked what he's been telling world leaders in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection who fear the 'continued hold Donald Trump has over the Republican Party.'
'I think it's appropriate to say that the Republican Party is vastly diminished in numbers, the leadership of the Republican Party is fractured and the Trump wing of the party is the bulk of the party, but it makes of a significant minority of the American people,' Biden said.
President Joe Biden said the world was shocked and surprised by the results of former President Donald Trump's 'phony populism,' which has left the GOP 'fractured'
Former President Donald Trump captured in New York City Monday. President Joe Biden was critical of Trump and the Republican Party at a press conference in Brussels Monday night
He also spoke about the goodness of the American people and the enthusiasm that's greeted him on his first trip abroad.
'You may have had a different view, but I think an awful lot of people thought that my showing up at the G7 would not produce any kind of enthusiasm about American leadership and about where America was,' Biden said. 'I would suggest that it didn't turn out that way.'
On the first leg of his trip, to the G7 in Cornwall, England, which kicked off Friday and extended over the weekend, Biden produced headlines announcing new 'bromances' with world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
'The leaders I'm dealing with in NATO and the G7 are leaders that know our recent history, know generically the character of the American people and know the vast center of the public stands - not Democratic or Republican - but who we are: We are a decent, honorable nation,' Biden continued.
'And I think that they have seen things happen, as we have, that shocked them and surprised them that could have happened, but I think they, like I do, believe the American people are not going to sustain that kind of behavior,' he added.
That's when he brought up the diminished standing of the Republican Party, again calling it a 'shock and a surprise that what's happened in terms of the consequence of President Trump's phony populism has - has happened.'
'And it is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate who I know, know better have been reluctant to take on, for example, an investigation because they're worried about being primaried,' Biden said.
The president was referring to a House-passed bill that would form a 9/11-style commission to investigate January 6. The measure failed in the Senate, with Democrats unable to get enough votes to override a Republican filibuster.
'But at the end of the day we've been through periods like this in American history before, where there has been this reluctance to take a chance on your re-election because of the nature of your party's politics at the moment,' Biden said. 'I think this is passing, I don't mean easily passing.'
He also argued that's why it's so important for his agenda to be successful, pointing to the vaccine effort, boosting the economy and getting an infrastructure bill passed.
'It's important that we demonstrate we can make progress and continue to make progress,' he said. 'And I think we're gonna be able to do that.'
