President Joe Biden recently made a bizarre comment about Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson during an interaction with a reporter on Monday afternoon. While Biden was standing outside of Air Force One during his visit to Austin, Texas, a press member inquired about Johnson’s comments condemning Biden’s radical reforms to the Supreme Court he recently announced.
Speaker Johnson maintained that the measures would be “dead on arrival” if they arrived in the House. “Mr. President, House Speaker Johnson says your Supreme Court reform is ‘dead on arrival.’ What’s your reaction, sir?” the reporter asked the president. “Who said that?” Biden answered. “Speaker Johnson said it’s ‘dead on arrival,’” the reporter followed up.
Biden answered, “I think that’s what he is.” He emphasized, “That he is – dead on arrival.” However, shortly after the comments began circulating in the press, Biden clarified his remarks, claiming that he was intending to refer to Johnson’s thought process. “The Republican Speaker of the House said, whatever he proposes, [is] dead on arrival,” Biden said. “I think his thinking is dead on arrival.”
Biden’s odd remarks followed the president’s call for Congress to impose term limits and a code of conduct on the conservative majority Supreme Court. However, the initiative has received significant criticism from the Republican Party, where House Speaker Johnson labeled it a move to “radically overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court” and “tilt the balance of power” in a manner that is contrary to the structure around the rule of law.
“This proposal is the logical conclusion to the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats’ ongoing efforts to delegitimize the Supreme Court,” Johnson stated. “Their calls to expand and pack the Court will soon resume.” He continued, “It is telling that Democrats want to change the system that has guided our nation since its founding simply because they disagree with some of the Court’s recent decisions. This dangerous gambit of the Biden-Harris Administration is dead on arrival in the House.”
The incident sparked a variety of reactions from users on social media, where some suggested it was seemingly violent speech. President Biden and the Democrats have received substantial criticism in the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, where they have pushed increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the former president and his base over the past several years.
One person wrote, “Sounds like Biden made a threat against the House Speaker!” Another weighed in, “So Biden made a threat against Trump and he was almost killed and then he makes threats against the speaker. Is there anything they can’t do? Trump would have already been impeached.” Another user echoed the same sentiment, writing, “Sounds like the sitting President of the United States is threatening the Speaker of the House with the press corps there as witnesses.”
Watch the video of Biden claiming House Speaker Johnson is “dead on arrival” after the Louisiana Republican indicated the president’s reform for the nation’s highest court would not pass the House of Representatives:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
"*" indicates required fields