Who was Biden speaking to Thursday night when most of the country wasn’t even watching?
Plenty of people will watch clips this morning but millions of Americans wouldn’t even have known Biden was speaking Thursday night in Philadelphia to a primetime nationwide audience.
The only problem is that all the main broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, which usually get advanced copies of presidential remarks, all decided to pass on the spectacle and instead aired regular programming.
Among cable news, only CNN and MSNBC carried the thirty-minute MAGA-bashing fest while the rest of the country watched reruns of Young Sheldon and Law & Order:
Broadcast networks passed on carrying Joe Biden’s speech in Philadelphia, as the president cast MAGA Republicans as a threat to democracy.
ABC ran Press Your Luck, CBS went with a Young Sheldon rerun and NBC with a Law & Order replay. CNN and MSNBC carried the address, as did news division streaming channels, but Fox News stuck with Tucker Carlson and his critique of the speech as it was happening.
Biden, appearing against the backdrop of Independence Hall, argued that MAGA Republicans were embracing extremism.
Running re-runs during a primetime presidential address? What gives?
All the major news and broadcast operations knew what Biden was going to say. They knew he was going to fly off the rails labeling half the country as “fascist” and essentially declaring political war on Trump voters. They decided to pass on joining the hate-fest.
The appearance of the dark-red brick wall, buttressed by U.S. Marines, was almost demonic in a way as it seemed to offer reinforcement to the dark nature of Biden’s words.
Still, though, why would CBS, ABC, and NBC not bother carrying the 30-minute speech? It’s possible that as leftist as they are and even though they generally support Biden, they knew how divisive it was going to be.
Earlier on Thursday, before the speech, the White House was trying to laughably couch the remarks as not being focused on one individual or political in nature:
Earlier, a senior administration official told reporters that the president “will talk about the direct threats to democracy from MAGA Republicans and the extremism that is a threat right now to our democratic values.” But, per NBC News, the official said that it is “not a speech about a particular politician, or even about a particular political party.”
Although White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that Biden’s address is “not a political speech,” Republicans have slotted what is being billed as a “pre-buttal.”
It was literally only a speech about a single individual: Donald Trump
The speech was overtly political in every way urging Americans to vote Democrat as the only means to protect democracy. In other words, you’ll keep enjoying record inflation, weak foreign policy, and high gas prices so you can “protect” democracy. It’s akin to Biden’s vaccine warnings last year where he basically urged the unvaccinated to start shopping for caskets.
Biden has no motivating factor left to tout other than fear itself which is often a good motivator.
For the country’s sake, this speech will likely be forgotten by next week as the nation returns from a long Labor Day weekend.
