President Biden on Wednesday called former President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement the “most extreme” group in US history and claimed that gay students may soon face legal segregation in classrooms if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Biden, speaking about the leaked Supreme Court ruling that could overturn the landmark abortion rights case, argued the implications are vast.
“What happens if you have a state change the law saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children?” Biden said at the White House.
“Is that legit under the way that the decision is written? What are the next things that are going to be attacked? Because this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history — in recent American history.”
Biden said that the draft decision could have such far-reaching effects because it would invalidate the privacy rights stemming from the 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which struck down state restrictions on medicine and devices that prevent pregnancy.
The Republican National Committee quickly returned fire, tweeting that “Biden insults tens of millions of Americans” with his characterization of the MAGA movement.
Although hundreds of Trump supporters pillaged the Capitol during the riot that interrupted certification of Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, other political organizations in recent US history have committed deadly acts of terrorism, such as al-Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan.
Biden and Democrats have urged supporters to turn out to vote in the November midterm elections to help legislatively reverse the looming abortion ruling, which would allow states to set their own policies.
The president on Tuesday said that the fate of contraceptives and same-sex marriage was at risk if Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion ultimately takes effect following its unprecedented leak.
Biden’s claim about students facing segregation likely was a reference to a recent Florida law that restricts the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Critics dubbed it the “don’t say gay” law.
Trump’s MAGA movement includes high-profile LGBT members, however, including Richard Grenell, who in 2020 became the nation’s first openly gay or lesbian Cabinet-level official when Trump appointed him as national intelligence director.
In the 2016 campaign, Trump posed with a rainbow pride flag and said that Caitlyn Jenner, who is transgender, was welcome to use any bathroom she pleased in Trump Tower.
As president, Trump in 2017 reimposed a military ban on transgender members, but he also launched a global push to decriminalize homosexuality. Trump’s West Wing adviser Kellyanne Conway defended his record, declaring Trump “the first president to start as president approving of gay marriage.”
