White House Defends Use of Marines in Speech

By: John Semmens

The optics of President Biden's speech attacking MAGA Republicans last week have drawn criticism for inserting Marines into what was obviously a political speech rather than a presidential address to the nation. Even the usually reliable apologist for Democrat excesses CNN thought he had gone too far. Anchor Brianna Keilar observed that “the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that.”

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the imagery as “appropriate for the occasion. Our democracy is under attack from an insidious domestic threat. The inclusion of the marines, like the President's earlier warning that he has F-15s standing by to obliterate these enemies of the people, was meant as a warning. US Marines are the finest trained killers in the world. The President knows that many of his critics consider him a feeble, addled old man. He wanted to show them that as weak as he may be personally, he commands mighty forces.”

There are military rules prohibiting active duty members from participating in political campaigns while in uniform because it could give the impression that the military favors one Party over the other. Jean-Pierre insisted that “taking on the evil MAGA Republicans is more a holy crusade than a mere disagreement about political policies. The threat is so dire that the full weight of our military might must be employed to ensure that the President's unifying message is received and obeyed.”