President Joe Biden’s first year in office has been a struggle.
His ambitious spending plan has been largely stymied. Biden’s polling numbers have cratered. Inflation has hurt the Democratic Party’s chances of maintaining control of Congress next year.
And his feud with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., stopped being political and became personal this week when Scott called the 46th president “incapacitated and confused” and called on Biden to resign.
“We’re in horrible shape. He doesn’t even know what state I’m from,” Scott told Fox News during an interview. “And you said he was supposed to give his ideas on inflation yesterday. What were his ideas? Oh, it’s everybody else’s fault but his.”
“So we know he can’t do it. Let’s be honest. We know that Joe Biden cannot fix this economy,” the Florida senator said. “Alright, get out of the way, let somebody else do it. That’s what you do in business life. … He’s confused about all these things. … Get people back to work. That’s how this country was built.”
Scott has introduced a new tax plan to help combat inflation that runs contrary to the White House.
When CBS News reported Ed O’Keefe asked Biden about Scott’s comments during a press conference Tuesday, Biden fired back.
“Earlier today, anticipating your remarks, [Scott] said — and I’m just quoting here — that the, ‘Most effective thing Joe Biden can do to solve the inflation crisis he created is resign. He’s the problem,’” O’Keefe said, quoting Scott.
“Resign?” Biden scoffed. “Oh, that’s a good idea.”
“The senator added later, ‘Joe Biden is unwell, he’s unfit for office, he’s incoherent, incapacitated and confused,’” O’Keefe continued. “These are his words. I’m offering you a chance to respond to that.”
Biden fired back, “I think the man has a problem.”
The president later slammed Scott’s tax plan as “the ultra-MAGA plan, Make America Great Again plan.”
“Right now, the majority of our Republican friends just see things differently. They don’t want to solve inflation just by lowering the cost. They want to solve it by raising taxes and lowering your income,” Biden said.
“If I didn’t see the actual document, I’d think I was making it up. “The ultra-MAGA Republicans’ proposal puts… here’s what it does, it puts social security, Medicare — this is the Republican plan now, the only one out there — and Medicaid on the chopping block every five years,” he said.
Scott called for a in-person debate with Biden over the issue, and invited the president to Florida.
Biden “can be rolled up to the podium and give a speech from a teleprompter,” but Americans deserve a “real debate” the Republican senator said.
The Horn editorial team