The president also calls himself a "Zionist" and speaks about a wide range of other issues in an interview with Complex's Speedy Morman
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As President Joe Biden ramps up his media appearances, he spoke about a wide range of issues with Complex’s Speedy Morman, including addressing former President Donald Trump’s support in the hip-hop community. The “360 With Speedy” interview was taped prior to the attempted assassination of Trump, but was released Monday.
Early in the interview, Speedy noted that they didn’t have a lot of time, though the edited clip ran nearly 20 minutes. One of his first questions for Biden was about his age and his decision to stay in the race. Biden reiterated that he had “to finish the job.”
Speedy asked Biden about Trump’s appeal to hip-hop artists, citing Lil Wayne and Kodak Black showing him their support. The president responded, “Well, I’m not sure he has that allegiance, number one. Number two, if you look at his record in terms of African Americans and minorities, it’s abysmal the way he handles everything.”
Biden added that he got started in politics because of the Black community, citing his state being segregated when he was growing up. Biden also talked about Trump’s comments about “Black jobs,” noting, “He means menial labor. That’s what he thinks. You know, he thinks he’s going to sell golden shoes or sneakers.”
The president took the attack to Trump throughout the pre-shooting interview, telling Speedy, “Donald Trump, I think — as I said from the beginning when I ran in 2020 — that he’s a real danger to the country, to a democracy.”
Biden said that he hadn’t planned to run in 2020, but made the decision after seeing what happened with the infamous Charlottesville protests and Trump responding to the death of a young woman by saying there were “good people on both sides.”
As is often the case when Biden speaks recently, his voice was hoarse and he regularly cleared his throat as he sipped what he said was tea. He also misspoke at times, including talking about becoming vice president in “2020.”
When asked what one thing he thought Trump would do well is, Biden responded, “I’m not being facetious — I can’t think of a single thing.”
He added, “Look what his objective is. It is totally anti-democratic. He says that he wants to be a dictator on day one. He means it. He says he will not recognize the outcome of the next election.”
Biden continued, noting that when the election didn’t go his way last time, Jan. 6 happened.
“He encouraged people to go up and riot. Police were killed. People were wounded. People were hurt. The place was smashed up. They were hanging… anyway, what did he do? He sat there in the dining room off of the Oval Office, watched it for three hours, didn’t say a damn thing. And now he says if he loses there’ll be a bloodbath?”
The president drew contrast with Trump on immigration and said, “We’re the only nation in the world that isn’t xenophobic.” He said there is xenophobia here, but that it isn’t our policy, and pointed to Trump trying to stop a border deal from going through under Biden because it would make him look bad.
Biden also defended his support for Israel during the ongoing controversy over the war in Gaza.
“If there weren’t an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk,” Biden said. “So there’s a need for it to be strong and a need for Israel to be able to have, after World War II, the ability for Jews to have a place that was their own. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. A Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they’ve been persecuted.”
Knowing how his words could come off given the sensitivity around the issue, Biden added, “Now, you’ll be able to make a lot out of that, because people don’t know what a Zionist is.”
But he also pointed to his support for the Palestinian people. “I’m the guy that did more for the Palestinian community than anybody,” Biden said, also pointing to opening up the border to food and medicine coming into Gaza.
“I mean, I’ve been very supportive of the Palestinians, but Hamas, they’re a bunch of thugs,” Biden said. “I was over there about eight days after the massacre, saw photographs of mothers and daughters being tied in a rope together, kerosene pouring on their heads and leaving them to burn to death. Nothing’s happened like that since the Holocaust.”
Asked about why Muslims and Arab Americans would vote for Biden given his stances, he noted the work he’d done with numerous Middle Eastern nations and said, “I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. The Arabs are good people. They need help now.”
When asked whether Vice President Kamala Harris was up to being president, Biden said, “I think she is. She’s first-rate. I wouldn’t have picked her otherwise. She was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a great senator. She’s first-rate, and I think she’s qualified.”
He also teased doing more to help people with rent and said, “I think you’re going to see the idea that we’re going to be able to deal with rent. We’re going to be able to deal with housing costs.” Biden is reportedly set to call for a cap of 5% on annual rent increases, according to the Associated Press.
The president used the interview to point to efforts he’s made to help young people, including forgiving college debt, and calling out Trump for not doing more to deal with racism or to improve the way minority groups are treated.
“I mean, what has he done?” Biden asked incredulously.
The interview opened with Speedy playfully offering the president what he said was vodka, before playing it off.
“I may be Irish, but I’m the only Irish you’ve ever met that’s never had a drink,” Biden quipped.
Biden ended the interview by stating that he’ll be on the ballot this November, “Unless I get hit by a train.”
During the interview, Biden also defended himself against concern about inflation under his presidency, talked corporate greed and addressed other issues. You can listen to the full interview with Complex’s Speedy in the video above.
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