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Joe Biden Recalls The Old Days Of Having Lunch With ‘Real Segregationists’ – Again

   DailyWire.com
US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and US President Joe Biden (R) visit United Performance Metals, a specialty metals solutions center, in Hamilton, Ohio, on May 6, 2022.
(Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden is catching heat for remarking on the old days of having lunch with “real segregationists” during an event in Ohio, but readers should keep in mind that this isn’t the first time Biden has made such comments. In fact, during the 2020 campaign, then-Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) rebuked similar statements made by Biden as being “misinformed and … wrong.”

While appearing on stage in Hamilton, Ohio, with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) on Friday, the president went off on a tangent regarding the apparent lack of civility in D.C. nowadays that America sees from the halls of Congress.

“You know, things have kinda changed since the days when I first got there …” Biden said, Townhall noted. “We always used to fight like hell.”

“Even back in the old days when we had real segregationists like [James] Eastland and [Strom] Thurmond and all those guys, but [at least] we end up eating lunch together,” the president added. “Things have changed, we’ve gotta bring it back,” he added before complimenting Portman on his character.

His comments can be seen here:

The press secretary for Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), Abigail Marone, wondered why the president thought it was a good idea to make such comments in the first place.

“Why is Joe Biden bragging about having lunch with segregationists?” Marone tweeted.

Indeed, his vice president had similar thoughts back in 2019.

Prior to Biden securing the Democratic 2020 nomination, Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah ran a segment highlighting that the now-president’s aides had advised him on the campaign trail not to discuss segregationists and his cordial relationships with them.

“Joe Biden is under fire this evening on comments he made about working alongside segregationist senators in the past,” NBC’s Lester Holt said during the segment, before cutting to NBC reporter Peter Alexander who provided more detail.

“Biden recalling his early Senate career, bringing up two segregationist senators, Herman Talmadge and James Eastland, who called African-Americans an inferior race,” Alexander said before quoting Biden.

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said. “He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’ At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done.”

“Biden made the comments despite his aides having long urged him not to discuss his relationships with segregationist senators,” Alexander claimed.

Noah quipped at the time, “You can’t come out in 2019 and say that these two senators from back in the day were super racist, but at least they were civil.”

“Yeah, civil to you maybe. Of course they never called you ‘boy,’” the host pointed out. “You’re white.”

Noah also noted that Harris blasted Biden for his comments, saying, “To coddle the reputations of segregationists, of people who, if they had their way, I would literally not be standing here as a member of the United States Senate, is, I think, um … It’s just … It’s misinformed, and it’s wrong.”

The Noah bit can be seen here:

It would seem that Biden still hasn’t received the memo from his aides or his second in command that referencing segregationists in a positive light is not the best move politically.

Perhaps comments like that are why candidates like Ohio’s Democratic Senate nominee Tim Ryan have refused to commit to campaigning alongside the president. On Thursday, Ryan told Fox News that he didn’t “want any distractions” during the campaign while dodging a question about whether or not he would be making any appearances with Biden:

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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