President Joe Biden delivered his “real” State of the Union address marking the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, one White House reporter said on Sunday.
Peter Alexander, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, said the West Wing is acting strategically when asked by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd why Biden waited so long to so forcefully criticize his predecessor for the “web of lies about the 2020 election” that preceded the violence on Capitol Hill.
“The White House says that it was selective on purpose on this issue and conversations with officials over the course of the last several days. They insist that the president wasn’t elected to go after Donald Trump, but Americans want to see him get things done here,” Alexander said.
WATCH: White House has a “burning frustration” with 40% of Americans who say violence against the government is OK right now, @peteralexander says.
Biden’s speech on the Jan. 6 anniversary — where he said “Trump values power over principle” — was the “real State of the Union.” pic.twitter.com/SDY58XINBW
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 9, 2022
“But, you know, Chuck, what struck me watching the president speak this week on the Jan. 6 anniversary — that in a lot of ways, that was the real State of the Union speech. That’s what our state of the union is right now,” he added.
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Alexander said Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress, slated for March 1, can focus on his “agenda.” Alexander mentioned the Build Back Better social spending plan, which is still being negotiated in Congress, but did not talk about problems plaguing the country and Biden’s administration, including the coronavirus pandemic and the supply chain crisis.
“There is this burning frustration as it was described to me by some aides, that they are witnessing this growing number of Americans — 40% I think it is — of Republicans, who say that it’s OK to use violence against the government right now. But the question is how much more will the president sort of implement this messaging, perhaps leading up to the midterms. But they say the primary focus has to be on getting things done,” Alexander said.
