Pence says Biden ‘grasping at straws’ in calling MAGA the ‘most extreme’ political group in the US – Daily Mail

Former Vice President Mike Pence accused President Joe Biden of ‘grasping at straws’ over the weekend after the commander-in-chief slammed the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement as ‘the most extreme political organization’ that’s ever existed in the United States. 

Pence claimed Biden made the explosive comments because he’s ‘desperate’ to distract voters from his persistently dismal approval ratings with less than six months until November’s midterm elections. 

‘With all due respect, President Biden sounds desperate. It sounds like the rhetoric of an administration grasping for straws,’ Donald Trump‘s old running mate told Fox News on Saturday.

He added that Biden’s job approval – which sits at 42.4 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight – ‘speaks for itself.’

‘He is exploring of the bowels of American approval numbers in modern history. And it’s because the American people see the failed policies of this administration at home and abroad,’ Pence said.  

As for MAGA supporters, who overwhelmingly still support Trump, Pence believes Biden calling them ‘extreme’ will just push more to turn out at the ballot box.

‘That kind of rhetoric [by Biden] will only serve to motivate people that share our values and our vision for the country to turn out to vote,’ he said. 

Mike Pence (left) took aim at President Joe Biden (right) in a Saturday interview over his fierce opposition to overturning federal abortion rights. Pence, a longtime leader in the pro-life movement, has been fueling 2024 rumors by wading so deeply into the current culture war

The November races will decide which party controls Congress for the latter half of Biden’s White House term. Democrats have been anxious to put some distance between themselves and the president’s unpopularity as they seek to keep their majority in the House and Senate. 

And the majority of voters are not happy with Biden right now, FiveThirtyEight’s poll aggregator suggests. 

His disapproval rating, while down somewhat from January’s all-time high of nearly 54 percent, is still roughly 10 points above his support percentage at 52.4 percent.

Biden’s job approval numbers are lower than that of nearly every one of his Democrat predecessors since World War II. Just Jimmy Carter, whose administration also grappled with soaring inflation like Biden’s is now, comes out slightly below the current commander-in-chief with 41.1 percent approval. 

The staggering 8.5 percent year-over rise in consumer prices is just one of the many crises Pence claims Biden was trying to shift voters’ attention away from. 

‘I must tell you that, look, the failed policies of the Biden administration are almost too many to recount. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the emboldening of the enemies of freedom around the world,’ Pence listed. 

‘The inflation at a 40-year high, the worst border crisis in history, a crime wave in our cities. All are a testament to the failed left-wing policies of the Biden administration.’

Meanwhile much of the first half of Biden’s White House tenure has been marked by low approval ratings

Pence predicted that Biden’s bashing of MAGA, whose supporters overwhelmingly back Donald Trump, will push GOP voters to the polls in November

While delivering remarks on the positive April jobs report at the White House last week, a reporter asked Biden his thoughts about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion that could see the judicial body’s conservative majority overturn federal abortion protections. 

Biden reiterated his concerns that overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling could lead to further individual rights – like same-sex marriage and laws preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation – to being scuttled. 

‘What are the next things that are going to be attacked?’ the president posed.

‘Because this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history – in recent American history.’

Trump gave Fox a brief but blunt reaction to Biden’s comments, stating: ‘MAGA is saving America.’

He added, ‘Our country is going to hell. MAGA is saving America.’ 

Pence, a religious conservative who’s long been vocally pro-life, said on Saturday, ‘I honestly believe that there is no more important issue in the life of the nation than the sanctity of life.’

‘And so for me, that’s that’s where this debate lies.’

Pence’s comments on the hot-button issue further fuel speculation that he’s eyeing a 2024 White House bid, which could potentially pit him against Trump in a fierce Republican primary. 

Neither of them has formally declared their candidacy despite dropping multiple hints. 

However, multiple GOP voters polls show the former Indiana governor-turned-vice president trailing Trump by double-digits, and even falling behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. 

The latter’s national profile skyrocketed under the Biden administration over his frequent clashes with the Democrat president over COVID-19 public health measures and what should be taught in public schools. Most recently, he’s spearheaded the Republican culture war by taking on Disney over its opposition to his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill placing limits on discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. 

Trump said last week that Pence’s race would be a ‘hard one’ if they were to compete in the primary.

‘If I got in, it would be — I think it’d be a hard one for him,’ Trump predicted.

‘I think it’d be a hard one. I understand where the base is, I love the base. The base loves me. I think it’d be hard but Mike was a good guy. I thought he was a very good vice president.’

Trump added that ‘he was my friend’ and revealed he had not spoken with Pence for ‘four or five months.’