House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) slammed Democrat President Joe Biden Thursday afternoon for pitting Americans against each other while also ignoring the crises that have erupted during his first two years in office.
McCarthy made the remarks ahead of Biden’s speech Thursday evening in Philadelphia, which was widely condemned by many as being dark and divisive.
“What is clear to me, and clear to you, is that Washington and the White House aren’t listening,” McCarthy said. “You have never been more worried, and more alarmed, by the direction of our country, yet they tell you everything is fine.”
McCarthy squarely pinned the failures of the U.S. government on Biden and the Democrats in Washington, D.C., who control the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“Our supply chains are collapsing. Our transportation system is completely dysfunctional. Air travel has never been more unpredictable,” McCarthy said. “Families go to the grocery store to find empty shelves. Necessities like baby formula have been impossible to find, which means many children can’t get the nutrition they need.”
McCarthy noted that inflation, which he pinned on Biden’s government spending, has been hard on Americans when they go to the store as “food prices are up more than 13 percent – the highest increase ever.”
“Gas prices are 60 percent higher than when Joe Biden took office,” McCarthy said. “He inherited energy independence from President Trump, but is now traveling the world begging foreign countries for the energy to power our country. We have all the God-given, American-made energy we need right here, right now, but Joe Biden has locked it away.”
McCarthy also noted how America has become more dangerous under Biden’s presidency, with last year being “the deadliest year in America in 20 years.”
The Biden administration “eliminated every successful policy put into place during the Trump Administration and adopted a policy of releasing illegal immigrants by the millions into the United States,” McCarthy said. “Last fiscal year under Biden, there were nearly 1.5 million apprehensions at our southern border. That’s a record. This year, Biden has already broken last year’s record. Almost 2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended.”
“That includes 66 individuals on the terrorist watch list — why are they coming and what do they have planned?” he continued. “But it doesn’t include the over 500,000 got aways. Or the countless more unknown got aways slipping in completely undetected as our border agents are pulled off the line. The number of illegal immigrants who’ve crossed our border under Biden easily exceeds the population of 25 states. Think about what this means for our healthcare system. Our hospital system. Our education system.”
McCarthy said that powerful Mexican drug cartels effectively control the U.S. southern border, and that has led to “record amounts of illicit drugs flooding into our cities and towns.”
“Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45,” he continued. “Fentanyl is poisoning and killing 300 Americans every day. That’s as much as a full airplane crash every day. Why is the White House not treating this like the crisis it is?”
McCarthy also hit Democrats for the effects of shutting down in-person learning in places around the country during the pandemic, and for the mandates they pushed.
McCarthy also slammed Biden for his foreign policy record, which comes a year after the administration’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
“Our pain and suffering at home have been matched by humiliation abroad,” he said. “One year ago, our country watched in horror as Biden’s botched withdrawal in Afghanistan left 13 American service members dead and landed a lasting blow to American prestige that will haunt us for generations to come.”
“Without question, Biden’s decision led to the greatest foreign policy embarrassment in American History,” he continued. “Genocidal China grows stronger, bolder, and more aggressive by the day. Iran is closer to a nuclear missile than ever before.”
McCarthy also took aim at Biden over his remarks demonizing millions of Americans who support former President Donald Trump.
“Yet instead of trying to bring our country together to solve these challenges, President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans – simply because they disagree with his policies,” he said. “That’s not leadership. When the President speaks tonight at Independence Hall, the first lines out of his mouth should be to apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as ‘fascists.’”