The Trump campaign and their MAGA allies erupted in outrage following President Biden’s comments suggesting that former President Trump should be “locked up”—though he clarified he meant politically.
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt claimed Biden’s remarks were an admission of a politically motivated agenda against Trump, stating, “Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square.”
Leavitt continued, asserting that “the Harris-Biden Administration is the real threat to democracy” and called on Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn Biden’s statement.
Biden made his remarks during a speech at the New Hampshire Democratic Party headquarters, where he warned that “democracy is at stake” in the upcoming election. He painted Trump, the GOP nominee, as a grave threat to the rule of law, expressing concerns that Trump would replace civil servants with loyalists and misinterpret a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity to justify “eliminating” perceived threats.
“I know this sounds bizarre. If I said this five years ago you’d lock me up. We gotta lock him up,” Biden declared, igniting cheers from the crowd. “Politically lock him up.”
The rhetoric echoed the calls for Hillary Clinton to be locked up during Trump’s 2016 campaign, a phrase that has since become a point of contention in political discourse. Meanwhile, Democrats, including Harris, have been cautious about using similar language, especially amidst Trump’s ongoing legal challenges.
Trump was recently convicted on 34 felony counts related to a hush money scheme and is facing additional federal charges regarding his efforts to maintain power after losing the 2020 election. While Biden has generally avoided public comments on Trump’s legal issues, maintaining the independence of the Justice Department, Trump has repeatedly labeled these cases as politically motivated attacks.
The stark division in rhetoric between the two parties becomes increasingly apparent, with each side framing the narrative in starkly different terms. Harris has consistently pushed back against chants of “lock him up” at her own events, stating that the judicial system will handle the matter while she focuses on winning at the ballot box.
