President Joe Biden went viral after he offered a grim diagnosis of efforts to sway enough Democrats to rally behind a plan to pass voting reform legislation after a meeting with senators Thursday on Capitol Hill.
A clip of his remarks shared on Twitter by CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins, who described Biden as being “agitated,” has been seen more than 160,000 times and was retweeted by White House chief of staff Ron Klain. The video showed Biden raising his voice at times, saying he will fight “as long as I have a breath in me” as he reiterated the argument made by Democrats that changing the long-standing filibuster is justified because their election overhaul legislation is needed to combat red-state voter integrity laws they believe will limit voter access.
The video also appeared to show Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat opposed to altering the filibuster, walking into the room before quickly reversing course. Some users surmised Sinema was turning tail, considering the optics. Her vote, along with that of fellow holdout Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, is needed for Democrats to change filibuster rules so they can pass the election legislation over the unanimous objection of Republicans.
Biden is agitated leaving meeting with Senate Dems: “The honest to god answer is, I don’t know we can get this done…But I know one thing, as long as I have a breath in me…I’m going to be fighting to change the way these legislatures have moved.” pic.twitter.com/SzbLGTUuag
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 13, 2022
“A brutal week for the White House,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said in sharing the tweet.
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“The world is laughing at the U.S. because of this clown,” said Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra.
Others offered support to Biden, including Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, who said, “Excellent remarks. Focus like a laser on subversion. DOJ needs strike force for this specifically.”
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Former federal prosecutor and Trump impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman, who last month dropped out of the New York attorney general race, said, “This is exactly right: it’s not *just* voter suppression (which is bad enough), but it’s election subversion — efforts by states to allow elected or appointed officials to overturn the will of the people. That is not democracy yet it is happening all around the country.”
Manchin and Sinema are expected to go to the White House on Thursday evening to meet with Biden to continue discussions on voting rights, sources told the Washington Post.
