Thursday 1 September 2022 09:49 PM White House insists Biden's speech tonight will be 'optimistic' and NOT ... trends now
President Joe Biden will give an optimistic, not a political speech, when he addresses Americans on Thursday night, the White House says.
But his remarks, coming 10 weeks before the November midterm election, will push for voter participation as the president works to keep Democrats in control of Congress.
The president will balance his attacks on 'extreme MAGA Republicans' and the threat to democracy with an optimistic look at America's future. Office.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president will talk about protecting freedom and that those who don't agree are 'extreme.'
'When you are not with where majority of Americans are, then, you know, that is extreme. That is an extreme way of thinking,' she said at Thursday's press briefing.
She cited those who are pushing for a full ban on abortions - no exceptions - and those who attack democracy and incite calls for violence as examples.
She said the speech, which begins at 8 p.m. ET, will be optimistic in tone and not political.
'It's not a political speech,' Jean-Pierre said.
'What we're going to hear from him is how to move the country forward. That's going to be the focus of the speech tonight,' she said. 'It's going to be optimistic, it's going to be hopeful but it's also going to lay out what's going on currently in this moment.'
Biden's approval rating was at 40% in a Quinnipiac University poll out on Thursday. That's a nine point rise since the last poll and follows other polls that show Biden's approval rating, which was in the mid-30s, is trending upward.
'It's not a political speech,' said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of President Joe Biden's speech on Thursdday night at 8 p.m. in Philadelphia
President Joe Biden will give an optimistic, not a political speech, Thursday night in primetime remarks focusing on threats to democracy
The White House said Biden's speech is not specificially aimed at Donald Trump (above) but toward his supporters who have embraced his lie that the won the 2020 election
The president will use his remarks to take direct aim at the Republican Party and, specifically, the supporters of former President Donald Trump, who Biden paints as extremists who want to take away American rights.
And, in his speech, Biden will frame November's congressional election, in which Democrats are seeking to maintain control of Congress, as part of an ongoing battle for the 'soul of the nation.'
He'll 'talk about the importance of engagement. He'll talk about voter participation,' Jean-Pierre said.
But the speech is not specificially aimed at Trump but toward his supporters who have embraced his lie that the won the 2020 election.
'This is so much broader, so much bigger than any one party, than any one person,' Jean-Pierre said.
Biden will use a historic backdrop to make his point: he will speak outside of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, the site where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and adopted by America's founding fathers.
The former president remains a force to be reckoned with in the Republican Party, pushing his influence in primaries across the country, where his MAGA supporters can make or break a candidate.
Trump's record in those races is mixed
