‘You Can Do Both’: Psaki Says Biden Can Unify While Attacking ‘Ultra-MAGA’ Americans

During Monday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that President Joe Biden could attack supporters of former President Donald Trump while supporting bipartisanship and unity.

“The President and you have talked about the ‘MAGA crowd’ or the ‘ultra-MAGA.’ How does that jive with his desire to be the bipartisan guy?” NPR’s Tamara Keith asked.

“Well, the President’s view is you can do both.  He believes that there is work we can continue to do together,” Psaki responded. “We’re actively advocating for — he was out traveling in — just last Friday on the Bipartisan Innovation Act.  We believe that needs to move forward; it should move forward.  And that can be — can build on the nearly 80 bills that we signed into law last year that are bipartisan.”

“But he’s also not going to stand by and not call out what he sees as ultra-MAGA behavior, ultra-MAGA policies that are out of the mainstream of the country and are not in the interest of the American people, whether that is efforts to prevent a woman from making choices about her own healthcare or whether that is Chairman Scott’s policy and proposals on — that would raise taxes on people making less than $100,000 a year,” Psaki added. “He’s going to continue to call that out.  But he believes there is still a path to move forward on where we have agreement.”

NPR's Tamara Keith: "The President and you have talked about 'the MAGA crowd' or the 'ultra-MAGA.' How does that jive with his desire to be the bipartisan guy?"

Psaki: "The President's view is you can do both. He believes that there is work we can continue to do together." pic.twitter.com/nWAfgKdcTh

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 9, 2022

Last week, Democrat President Joe Biden gave a speech attacking what he called the “Ultra-MAGA agenda” as he argued that his economic policies have been beneficial to America. The speech came as inflation continued to be at a 40-year high, resulting in the decline in the real wages of Americans. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the real average hourly earnings of Americans decreased 2.7 percent from March 2021 to March 2022, and the real average weekly earnings decreased 3.6 percent over the same time.

“I don’t want to hear Republicans talk about deficits and their Ultra-MAGA Agenda,” Biden said. “I want to hear about fairness.  I want to hear about decency.  I want to hear about help on ordinary people. The bottom line is that, for decades, the trickle-down economics has failed as income inequity grew to historic levels under the Republicans.”