Biden shocks viewers with 'hellish red background' for polarizing speech

Brian Flood
Fox News
Fri, 02 Sep 2022 17:10 UTC

Biden gives an unsettling speech on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022

Biden sent critics rushing to Twitter with thoughts on the ominous red lighting

President Biden's polarizing speech on Thursday night sent social media ablaze with a glowing "blood red" background that stunned viewers.

Biden aimed to frame the state of U.S. politics as a battle between "equality and democracy" and a GOP allegedly assaulting those principles in a campaign-style speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, with a widely criticized background that included ominous red lighting.

"The fact that this isn't photoshopped is surreal," Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tweeted.

"Every time I think Biden and crew can't be dumber they outdo themselves. Seriously who gives a speech warning people about how dangerous Republicans are to Democracy while having a background that looks like the Soviet Union and Hitler had a baby?"

Political satirist Tim Young's eyebrows were raised when he tuned in, too.

"I'm not saying 'fascism' officially had its coming out party in America tonight... I'm just saying Biden condemned his political opponents as a threat to America and democracy set to a blood red background with the military standing behind him," Young wrote.

Fox News' Kayleigh McEnany called it "a hellish red background," while others couldn't believe the images circulating on social media were real.

"I can't believe this is a real photograph. It depicts the president of our nation, as he took to the airwaves and spoke about his fellow citizens as if they were sewer rats," Ohio Republican Senate hopeful J.D. Vance tweeted.

"The red color in the background must be symbolizing the red wave that is coming in Nov following Biden's demonic and divisive speech," commentator Mercedes Schlapp reacted.

"The optics of Biden's speech instantly became a source of Internet chatter with the weird red background that made the President look like he was giving a stump speech from Dante's Inferno," Jonathan Turley wrote.

Who wore it better?

The image of Biden looking angry with clenched fists in front of the "hellish red background" has generated an onslaught of memes, comparisons to historical villains and even resulted in the term "pure evil" trending on Twitter.

Meanwhile, a far-left MSNBC producer known for his fervent boosting of Democrats became defensive.

"If you're focused on the background of President Biden's speech, you've lost it," MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin tweeted.

Many others took to Twitter with thoughts on Biden's backdrop:

© AFT/Getty

Biden declared Donald Trump is a 'threat to the country' in a speech that contained his harshest rhetoric to date about his predecessor in the Oval Office and the MAGA movement

During the remarks, Biden slammed former President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and Trump's MAGA supporters.

"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic," Biden said. "MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of the law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election."

The president said that he does not think "every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans." But he said the GOP overall is "dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans."

Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [e-mail] and on Twitter: @briansflood.

Fox News' Tyler Olson and Haris Alic contributed to this report.

Comment: Some panicked theater major at CNN must have realized the lighting for Biden's speech was Not A Good Look:

CNN accused of editing Biden's BLOOD RED background for dark speech targeting conservatives

Amidst President Joe Biden's speech on Thursday night regarding the "Soul of the Nation," in which he sent a majority of the speech declaring MAGA Republicans an enemy of the state, CNN was exposed changing the color of lights in the background from a harsher blood red color to a softer hot pink.

In a feed from the White House, Biden was seen standing in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the historic building bathed in red light.

In CNN's feed, the video can be seen shifting colors just before the 20 minute mark of Biden's speech, with Biden saying, "Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election. Either they win, or they were cheated, and that's where the MAGA Republicans are today."

The remainder of CNN's feed of the speech continued with the building being bathed in pink light, with Biden's skin tone changing to a pinker hue as well.

CNN was called out for the action on social media, with Twitter users saying the move to shift the colors came as a way to make Biden's speech come across as less harsh, even as he told the nation that MAGA Republicans represent the most extreme threat to the nation's democracy.

During his primetime speech, Biden told the nation that "as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault."

"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic," he declared.

Biden said that he believes the country is at an "inflection point," and that Americans "must choose to move forward, or to move backwards to build a future obsessed about the past, to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear and division and of darkness.

"MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chairs. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies," he said.

Trump weighed in on the event:

Donald Trump launched a seething attack on President Joe Biden where he branded him 'insane' and asked if he was 'suffering from late stage dementia' after the president claimed he was a 'threat to democracy'.

The furious former president took to his Truth Social account to slam the 'awkward and angry' speech outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia - and called on someone to explain to his successor what MAGA means, 'slowly but passionately'.

The late night rant also saw him accuse the 79-year-old of 'threatening America, including with the possible use of military force' as he fought back at the brutal address to the nation.

© Donald Trump/Truth Social

© Donald Trump/Truth Social

Surrounded by an almost dystopian backdrop of two Marines standing at attention outside the auditorium - in a break from White House traditions - Biden, 79, relentlessly bashed his predecessor before being interrupted by a male heckler.

'F**k Joe Biden!' the jeerer can be heard shouting in a clip of the outdoor procession, during which the politician compared his 2020 election against Trump as a battle for the 'soul of the nation.' The profane chant - which was accompanied by shouts of the now-notorious anti-Biden rallying cry 'Let's Go Brandon' as well as sounds of a megaphone siren - interrupted the speech twice, both times garnering a response from the president. 'They're entitled to be outrageous, Biden said of the unrest, which seemed to spread like wildfire amid the politician's apparent frustration with the poor reception. This is a democracy,' he added, before laying into his detractors. 'Good manners is nothing they've ever suffered from.'

Ron DeSantis, an ardent supporter of Trump also spoke out:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis explained why President Biden's Thursday speech was "one of the most disgusting speeches an American president has ever given" Friday on The Ingraham Angle.

GOV. RON DESANTIS: [Biden's speech] was one of the most disgusting speeches an American president has ever given. He ran as being a unifier, and he's basically saying to the vast majority of the country that disapproves of him that they're effectively a threat to the republic. He dodders, he lashes out. But at the end of the day, his policies are why there's so much opposition to him.

He came in and he opened the border, and we've seen what a disaster that's been. He kneecapped American energy. We've seen how that's hurt millions and millions of people across our country. They've inflated the currency. We have one of the worst inflations we've had in over 40 years. So of course, people are going to be upset at all the wreckage that he's left in his wake. He is the American Nero. He's a failed leader.