Potential Dem 2028 Contender Torches Joe Biden Over Backtracking On Using Term ‘Illegal’ For Migrant

Former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel criticized former President Joe Biden on a Wednesday podcast for quickly walking back his March 2024 comment calling an immigrant “an illegal.”

Biden expressed remorse for referring to Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murderer as “an illegal” during his final State of the Union address, saying he should have used the term “undocumented” instead after facing liberal backlash. Emanuel, on “The Bulwark,” said Biden should have stood firm on the issue like past Democratic presidents had on other topics, as it would have demonstrated strength.

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“In his last State of the Union, President Biden … when he went off script, and everybody said, ‘Look, watch,’ he said, ‘illegal immigrants,’” Emanuel said. “The next day, because a bunch of Washington 202 area code jerks yelled at him, he said, ‘I meant undocumented.’ That was the slowest pitch over the plate.”

“Had he done his moment like Bill Clinton did, like Barack Obama did on their different issues, or Jack Kennedy did, had he said, ‘Look, man, they’re immigrants, crossed the border illegally — illegal immigrants, you use whatever, undocumented, whatever you want. I’m going to say illegal immigrants. End of story.’ He would have shown what people want from a president,” he continued. “Nobody thinks you deserve to go into the Oval Office if a group in Washington can stare you down because they don’t think you can stare down Xi or Putin.”

Republicans