In the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Joe Biden told the nation from the Oval Office that it is time to “lower the temperature in our politics.”
That is proving, however, to be easier said than done for the president. During an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Monday, the 81 year old unleashed a series of incendiary attacks on his GOP opponent that led Holt to question whether Biden was following his own advice.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Hogan Gidley, former national press secretary for Trump, and David Plouffe, co-host of The Campaign Managers, to discuss the rhetoric and increasingly tricky situation Biden and Democrats find themselves in at this point in the campaign.
Holt Challenges Biden
As Megyn noted, Democrats find themselves in a “quandary” in the wake of the assassination attempt. “They want to continue slugging Donald Trump as hard as humanly possible, but it’s a little hard because the nation’s sympathies are with him at the moment,” she explained. “We all saw what happened on Saturday. I think most humans were inspired by the way he handled it. And then you had Joe Biden come out in the White House and say, ‘We’ve got to lower the temperature.'”
When Biden sat down with Holt, however, “it didn’t seem like a lowering of the temperature moment,” Megyn said. Instead, “he brought up a lot of tropes about Donald Trump that have been debunked,” she noted, including the claim that Trump said there were ‘fine people on both sides’ in Charlottesville, Virginia, or that he said their will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the 2024 election.
Those allegations seemingly didn’t go unnoticed by Holt, which led to the following exchanges:
HOLT: Have you taken a step back and done a little soul searching on things that you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced?
BIDEN: My opponent has engaged in that rhetoric. He talks about there will be a bloodbath if he loses… He’ll suspend the sentences of all those who were arrested and sentenced to go to jail because of what happened in the Capitol.
HOLT: This doesn’t sound like you’re you’re turning down the heat, though. You’ve talked about–
BIDEN: No, no, no. What I’m turning down– we have to stop the whole notion that there are certain things that are contrary to our, our democracy that we’re for…
HOLT: So, what what what can you and what will you do, at least things you can control, to lower down the temperature, the rhetoric out there?
BIDEN: Continue to talk about the things that matter to the American public. It matters whether or not you accept the outcome of elections. It matters whether or not you, for example, talk about how you’re going to deal with the border instead of talking about people being vermin. I mean, those things matter. That’s the kind of language that is inflammatory.
Given the current political climate, Megyn said Biden parroting debunked talking points matters. “He continues to misuse those things,” she said. “And I don’t know that the average American knows that.”
Simmering Down or Status Quo?
Despite the calls for unity, Plouffe said Trump’s “rise” in politics “has been fueled by personal attacks,” and he believes the 2024 campaign will remain “a fierce debate” from both sides.
“I’m not sure by this weekend is Donald Trump going to be out there giving a peace and love speech. I highly doubt it,” he said. “So, I think this election will remain spirited, and I hope everybody who’s got a microphone – particularly elected officials and those seeking office – take a beat to say, ‘Okay, we can disagree about issues without maligning people’s motives’ to the extent that that might have been the case pre-Saturday.”
While Megyn said there is “no question” Trump and his supporters have also said “incendiary things,” she said the “reality of the situation” is that Trump “is the one who got shot in the face” and Biden now has the chance to show whether or not he can rise above the mudslinging.
Gidley, for one, isn’t so sure. “Milquetoast Mitt Romney, Joe Biden said he was going to put black people back in ‘chains,'” he noted. “[Biden] is not some soft-handed, genteel gentleman. He is a tough, bare knuckle, political brawler and says stuff all the time that, quite frankly, isn’t true.”
And given the questions surrounding Biden’s current cognitive state – especially in the wake of the disastrous CNN debate – Megyn said it remains to be seen how he will cope with the changing tides.
“If he’s going to lower the temperature, he’s got to be the Larry Hagman character in Primary Colors… you actually have to go out there and have the measured tone,” she concluded. “But this is all ignoring the thing that I think many of us can’t get past: It’s not just that Joe Biden is old; it is that he does not appear to be all there.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Gidley and Plouffe by tuning in to episode 839 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.