Politics

Chuck Todd: Biden’s Inauguration Speech The First ‘To Mention The Virus Of White Supremacy’

“Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s inauguration speech was the first “to mention the virus of white supremacy.”

Todd said the Jan. 6 riot, where a mob breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6 during a march that turned into a violent attempt to halt the certification of the presidential election results, made Biden’s speech far more relevant.

“By the way, a point of research I had my team look, this is the first inaugural address ever to mention the virus of white supremacy,” Todd said. “We looked at every inaugural address and, you know, these are important,” Todd said.

Biden promised in his inauguration speech Wednesday to bring the American people together in a tension-filled time of division and conflict. The new president listed various hardships Americans are facing now, including white supremacy, according to a transcript of his inaugural address.

“And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat,” Biden said.

“To overcome these challenges — to restore the soul and to secure the future of America — requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity. Unity,” Biden said.

Todd further praised Biden and his inauguration speech, saying Biden was trying to show the administration would move the country forward.

“Look, you can’t erase the chapter of the last four years. But you can put a marker down and show that we’ve moved forward,” Todd said.

“And I just think it is important to say that the fact that he said white supremacy, and he talked about it is as a scourge in this country and to be the first president to do it — I also think that’s an important marker that, years from now, will be looked back on as an important inflection point that an American president said,” Todd said.