Biden’s attacks on ‘MAGA Republicans’ were an ‘effective strategy’ for the midterms, adviser says

A top adviser to President Joe Biden suggested Sunday that the commander in chief’s verbal attacks on Donald Trump’s supporters were an “effective strategy” and a key factor in exceeding Democrats’ expectations in the meantime.

Democrats tightened control of the Senate for two more years when Senator Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly won her race in Nevada on Saturday night.

The House of Representatives, which polls say will win dozens of new Republican seats, is up for grabs on Sunday morning. Republicans need seven more wins to get a majority of 218 members. Democrats currently have 204 seats.

A majority of high-profile GOP losses have come from voters who shun more far-right candidates, in many cases supported by Trump, in favor of more moderate Democrats.

Biden, while campaigning, has been criticized by critics for his fiery rhetoric that threw Trump and his supporters into Congress, running as “MAGA Republicans” and “extremists.”

Republicans and some politicians warned that such harsh language would deter voters after the president won the White House on a platform to bring people together.

But Anita Dunn, senior adviser to the President of the United States, dismissed such criticisms of NBC News’ Meet The Press this Sunday.

“When the president first started using the term ‘MAGA Republican’ in May, a lot of experts, a lot of, you know, a lot of people thought it wouldn’t work,” Dunn said.

She noted that some, like Trump, embraced Biden’s swear words. For example, the former president eagerly echoed Biden’s nickname “the great MAGA king.”

“But it was a very effective strategy for educating the American people about the risks of going down that road,” Dunn said.

With the denial of democracy, with the threat of political violence to achieve political ends, with an extremist program that denies women the right to abortion, economic policies that continue to trickle in, as opposed to bottom-up and middle-out like President Biden. fight for.’

She added: “The Republican Party needs to figure out what they’re actually for. It’s very clear what President Biden and the Democratic Party are for.”

Biden angered Republicans across the board when he noted that Trump’s grassroots beliefs are akin to “semi-fascism” during comments to donors in Maryland in late August.

Rather than taking a step back, he made it a central theme of his campaign throughout the season.

She also fired “experts” who said her boss’s fiery strategy of exposing “MAGA Republicans” would alienate voters

“Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal and economic rights, they embrace political violence,” Biden said in September.

He said in Florida just before the election this month, “This is dead serious, man.”

Biden warned of the dangers of a “mega-MAGA Republican” Congress, telling the crowd, “This is not your father’s Republican Party.”

In a separate interview on CBS News’ Face The Nation on Sunday, Dunn praised the Democrats’ victory in the Senate as “hugely telling.”

She also said funding the government should be Congress’ “top priority” in completing the current term.

The last sustained resolution from lawmakers to avoid a government shutdown will expire on December 16.

“Other lame duck priorities will certainly include additional funding for Ukraine, and the president has said he hopes this will remain a bipartisan issue in the United States Congress,” Biden’s adviser said.

“You know, of course, the emergency funding for the natural disasters that Florida and Puerto Rico went through earlier this year, as well as additional priorities for the administration. But keeping the government open is priority number one.’

Democrats retained control of the Senate with a 50th seat called up for the party on Saturday

The House of Representatives, expected to turn Republican with dozens of seats, is still in the game Sunday morning