Joe Biden appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! On Wednesday, June 8th, which was his first in-person appearance on a late-night talk show since becoming the President of the United States! And he had quite a lot to say! Biden and Kimmel discussed gun control during a large part of the interview, and the POTUS didn’t miss a chance to take some shots at Donald Trump when asked about the use of executive orders to try and put a halt to the tragic gun violence as seen in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas in recent weeks, to name a few.
“What I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution, and constitutional authority,” Biden responded, after Kimmel had joked that “Trump passed those out like Halloween candy.” And he didn’t stop at just Trump, as the President went on to take aim at the Republican Party as a whole.
“I also get asked, ‘Look, the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?’ Well, guess what, if we do the same thing they do, our democracy would literally be in jeopardy and that is not a joke.” Biden also spoke about the general shift of the Republican Party to the ‘hard right,’ and suggested that party members often vote against ‘common-sense’ gun control because of intimidation from the NRA and fear of being voted out. “This is not your father’s Republican Party,” he said.
“This is a MAGA party, a very different Republican Party and you find people who are worried, I believe, that if they vote for rational gun policy, they’re gonna be primaried and they’re going to lose in a hard-right Republican primary,” Biden continued. He did, however, say that the American people have the power to change this by making gun control a voting issue, to put the pressure on the Senate to make the required changes to protect the public.
Biden and Kimmel also discussed other hot topics like abortion rights, climate change, and inflation. On the subject of the recently leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, Biden called it "ridiculous" and said, "I don’t think the country will stand for it. It’s clear that if in fact the decision comes down the way it does and these states impose the limitations they’re talking about, it’s gonna cause a mini revolution and they’re going to vote a lot of these folks out of office." The President did say that his administration is exploring the possibility of using executive orders to protect abortion rights and that federal legislation is needed as well.
On a lighter note, Biden also touted the success of job growth and the American economy in general since he took office. "We have the fastest-growing economy in the world," he said. "Unemployment rate is down to 3.6%. We reduced the deficit last year by $320 billion, this year we’re gonna reduce it by $1.7 trillion." However, he did admit that the US is not immune to the issues of inflation, as we have all seen with the recent surges in food and gas prices. "Inflation is the bane of our existence," he said.
