President Biden said on Thursday at a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (D) that his opponent Mehmet Oz (R) is for “undoing everything we have done.”
“It’s a choice: what direction do you want to see this country going?” said Biden, discussing the upcoming election on Nov. 8.
The president criticized the GOP for what he described as the party’s extremism, saying that “MAGA Republicans,” referring to former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, are going in a different direction than the rest of America.
“The folks running this party are the MAGA Republicans … They have a very different view about the government role.”
Biden also jabbed at the GOP for its stance on healthcare, lamenting that “not a single Republican” voted in favor of his administration’s attempts to lower prescription drug prices.
“They want to get rid of or fundamentally change Social Security and Medicare,” Biden said of Republicans.
It’s not the first time Biden has placed himself and the Democratic party in opposition to “MAGA Republicans.” In late August, he gave a speech at Pennsylvania’s Independence Hall where he invoked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as he referenced “MAGA Republicans” multiple times.
The president went on to claim that “new MAGA Republicans don’t show any respect” for blue collar members of unions.
“We have to remind people what the Republicans are for, this new Republican party. This is not your father’s Republican party,” he said.
In contrast, the president praised Fetterman for his positions and character, calling him a man with “integrity” who has “got to win” in November.
“You never have to wonder that he means what he says,” said the president regarding Fetterman.
He added that Fetterman will join his efforts to ban assault weapons and codify Roe v. Wade into law, two issues motivating Democrats this election cycle.
“I want to be standing next to big John when he wins, because John, you have character, pal, and it matters,” Biden said.
Fetterman delivered remarks earlier in the evening, referring to himself as “a regular candidate of a regular guy.”
“Please send Dr. Oz back to New Jersey and send me to D.C. to be that 51st vote,” said Fetterman.
The Senate candidate, who had a stroke in May, addressed his health and Oz’s commentary on his fitness for office.
“I had to really consider mortality and all these issues. It’s really jarring,” Fetterman said after describing his stroke, which he called “the elephant in the room.”
He continued: “In January I’ll be feeling much better, but Dr. Oz will still be a fraud.”