President Joe Biden criticized supporters of former President Donald Trump as a “significant minority” of Americans during a press conference in Europe on Monday.
The president spoke about Trump and his supporters during a press conference after a day of NATO summit meetings with world leaders. He said:
I think it’s appropriate to say that the Republican party is vastly diminished in numbers, the leadership of the Republican party is fractured and the Trump wing of the party is the bulk of the party, but it makes up a significant minority of the American people.
Biden was asked by a reporter how America’s allies could trust his assertion that “America was back” after Trump’s presidency.
“What I’m saying to them is, ‘Watch me,’” Biden replied, adding he was trusting that world leaders believed, “that I mean what I say and they believe that I keep my commitments when I say it.”
Biden said he believed the United States was at a moment of turning away from the “phony populism” that Trump inflamed with his presidency.
“I think this is passing. I don’t mean easily passing,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important that I succeed in my agenda.”
Biden also expressed his hope that “a lot of Republicans, particularly younger Republicans” would join in a coalition of political leadership.
He cited the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th as a shock to democracies worldwide but said he was reassured about America’s overall character.
“I think it is a shock and surprise that what’s happened in terms of the consequence of President Trump’s phony populism has happened,” he said.
Biden added he was disappointed in his Republican colleagues for refusing to vote in support of an investigation of the Capitol Hill riots and for failing to challenge Trump’s hold on their party.
“It is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate — who I know, know better — have been reluctant to take on, for example, an investigation because they’re worried about being primaried,” he said.
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