President Joe Biden used his first personal appearance on a late-night talk show since taking office to shoot his predecessor in the White House and the “right-wing” Republican Party in an interview dominated by gun control talks.
Biden also touched on a number of other hot issues, such as abortion rights, climate change and inflation, during his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! On Wednesday night – about four months after his last recorded interview with a reporter.
The president tapped former President Donald Trump during about 20 minutes of questions and answers when host Jimmy Kimmel questioned the possible use of executive orders to enforce gun control.
Kimmel, who is usually left-leaning, jokingly said that “Trump handed them out like Halloween candy.”
The president acknowledged that he had issued executive orders within his powers. “But what I don’t want to do – and I’m not kidding – I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution and constitutional powers,” he said.
He also targeted Republicans.
“They also ask me, ‘Look, Republicans don’t play straight, why do you play straight?'” Biden said. “Well, guess what, if we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy, and that’s no joke.”
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pose with Jimmy Kimmel.JimmyKimmelLive / Twitter
He went on to say that the GOP party has undergone a “radical change” since Trump was elected, moving “firmly to the right” and its members often voting against what many call “common sense” gun control because they are afraid of being voted on in the office.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said. “This is the MAGA party, a very different Republican party, and you find people who are worried, I believe that if they vote for a rational weapons policy, they will be first and lose in a solid Republican primary.”
He said, however, that the American people actually need to make arms control a matter of voting in order to push through reforms that are likely to die in the current Senate.
The president also spoke of the recently expired draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Rowe W. Wade, calling it “ridiculous.”
“I don’t think the country will stand it,” Biden said.
“It is clear that if the decision actually comes the way it does and these states impose the restrictions they are talking about, it will cause a mini-revolution and they will vote for many of these people to leave office.”
He said his administration was exploring the possibility of using enforcement orders to protect abortion rights, and said federal legislation was also needed.
Earlier in the interview, Biden highlighted the success of the US economy and job growth since taking office.
“We have the fastest growing economy in the world,” he said. “The unemployment rate is up to 3.6%. We reduced the deficit last year by $ 320 billion, this year we will reduce it by $ 1.7 trillion.
However, he acknowledged that the United States has not escaped the pain of inflation as food and gas prices rise, affecting ordinary Americans.
“Inflation is the curse of our existence,” he said.
Biden’s visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is his first personal appearance in a late-night show during his presidency. Last December, the president appeared virtually on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
This is one of the few in-person interviews the president has given recently – especially with a comedian and talk show host with a leftist orientation, not a journalist. Biden has not given a recorded, sitting interview to a reporter for about four months.
Biden’s appearance on Kimmel was his first late-night appearance since December 2021. ABC / Randy Holmes President Biden has not given a sit-down interview with a journalist for about four months.JimmyKimmelLive / Twitter
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