President Joe Biden blasted predecessor Donald Trump on Jan. 6 for his inaction and his plans to release convicted rioters if he takes office in a new interview.
The president’s conversation with Spanish-language Univision comes as a new poll shows his lead over Trump shrinking at a time when battlegrounds in Arizona and Nevada could tilt control of the White House and Senate.
In the first clip released, Biden was asked what the biggest threat to democracy and freedom was — and immediately turned to Trump.
“Donald Trump spoke and used phrases like, if you’re going to dismantle the Constitution, you’re going to be a dictator on day one,” he said.
Que sera sera: President Biden called out Donald Trump for saying he would be dictator ‘for a day’ in comments to Univision. The interview with the Spanish-language network comes at a time when his lead over Trump among Spanish-speaking voters is shrinking
Biden’s “favorability advantage” over Trump is shrinking
That was a reference to Trump’s 2022 quote calling for “an end to all regulations … even those in the Constitution” and his comment in an interview about being “a dictator for a day.” He then took on Trump for watching television during the Capitol riot and his continued embrace of the Jan. 6 defendants.
“The idea that he would sit in the office – and I’ll show you before you leave – in the Oval Office, and watch for hours the attack on the Capitol, and the destruction and the chaos and the people being murdered by the police were killed officers who died, and call them political heroes?’ Biden said. “Call them patriots? And he says that if he is elected, he will release them all because they are being held illegally.
“Just think about the things he says, look at the way he talks about minority groups and Hispanics and how we talk about them… anyway, I can’t think of another moment in my life in history that has happened, that you’ve had someone who has that attitude, and he says I’ll be a dictator on day one. No one believes him,” he said.
Biden blasted Trump for saying he would pardon the defendants on January 6
Trump leads Biden in Arizona and Nevada
Trump clashed with the network during his time in the White House. Biden would like to improve his position among Spanish-speaking voters
Biden’s interview comes as Trump has entered a network with which he loudly clashed following its 2022 merger with Televisa.
A new Axios/Ipsos poll shows Biden’s advantage over Trump Biden’s lead over Hispanics in overall favorability is narrowing.
In March, Biden’s favorable rating was 41, a nine-point lead over Trump’s 32. In June 2023, Biden was at 47 percent and Trump at 29 percent.
Trump wrote last month that one of his “first acts” would be “freeing the January 6th hostages who are wrongly imprisoned!” He said last year that he would “most likely” pardon many of them.