To prevent his predecessor’s ‘abuse of the Constitution,’ President Joe Biden stated that he will not utilize executive orders to restrict weapons.
Biden blamed NRA intimidation for his administration’s failure to introduce gun control measures in a long appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! – his first network interview in 118 days.
The president said elected Republicans were being threatened with primary challenges if they back a ‘rational gun policy’.
Kimmel said: ‘We’re halfway through the year, there have been 27 shootings at schools. Why haven’t we done anything about this.’
Biden replied: ‘I think a lot of it is intimidation by the NRA.
‘This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a MAGA party. It’s a very different Republican Party.’
Biden referenced potential challenges by NRA-backed candidates if elected GOP officials back gun control.
He said: ‘You find people worried, I believe, that if they vote for rational gun policy they’re gonna be primaried.’
During the 20-minute late night interview, Biden commented on a raft of other national issues including climate change, Roe v Wade and inflation.
Kimmel pleaded with Biden to ‘start yelling at people’ and adopt a harder stance against his opponents.
The ABC talk show host challenged Biden to use executive authority, stating Trump had ‘passed them out like Halloween candy’.
Biden refused to emulate the behavior of his predecessor, he said.
President Obama famously used a flurry of executive orders in an effort to rein in gun violence, with little success.
First Lady Jill Biden sat on the front row in Kimmel’s Los Angeles studio hours after giving a commencement address at LA Community College.
Biden, who appeared in good spirits, quipped: ‘By the way, I’m Jill Biden’s husband.’
The pair exchanged compliments, with Kimmel asking if he could ask Biden ‘some serious questions’.
Biden replied: ‘I never mind having a conversation with someone really smart’, drawing applause from the crowd.
The beleaguered president, who is struggling amid record-low approval ratings, repeated a recent favorite line: ‘This is not your father’s Republican Party.’
Though Biden has taken some unilateral steps on firearms, the president said he wasn’t interested in stepping beyond the limits of his authority.
‘I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution and constitutional authority,’ he said.
Biden said he knows some people feel like ‘Republicans don’t play it square, [so] why do you play it square?’
‘Well, guess what,’ he said. ‘If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy. Not a joke.’
Kimmel responded, ‘It’s like you’re playing Monopoly with somebody who won’t pass go or won’t follow any of the rules, and how do you ever make any progress if they’re not following the rules?’
‘You’ve got to send them to jail,’ Biden joked.
At another point in the interview, Kimmel suggested he was disappointed in the progress that was being made on issues like climate change and abortion.
‘We’ve moved backward,’ he said.
Later on, Kimmel sympathized with Biden’s challenges, particularly the upcoming Supreme Court decision that is expected to overturn Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion access nationwide.
‘What a terrible job you have,’ Kimmel said. ‘I’m glad you’re doing it. But, boy oh boy, does this seem like a bad gig.’
‘This generation is going to change everything,’ Biden said. ‘We just have to make sure we don´t give up.’
Biden has been frustrated by his poor poll ratings amid concerns about high gas and energy prices, baby formula shortages, and lack of progress on several legislative fronts like voting rights and abortion rights, as well as gun safety.
His advisers are hoping to retool their messaging in the upcoming weeks, hoping to focus on the positive elements of the economy, such as job and wage growth.
‘Inflation is the bane of our existence,’ Biden said.
He criticized U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil for making fat profits but not drilling new wells or refining more gasoline and instead buying back its own stock.
‘I mean, it’s just ass – excuse me – it’s backwards,’ Biden said.
Biden’s first stop in Los Angeles, where he’s attending the Summit of the Americas, was Kimmel’s Hollywood studio. First Lady Jill Biden was in the audience, along with Biden´s granddaughter Naomi and her fiancé.
Biden’s only previous late-night appearance as president was in December, when he spoke remotely with Jimmy Fallon The Tonight Show.