CNN’s Poppy Harlow Invites Tim Ryan to Rip Biden Speech: ‘Was That The Wrong Argument?’

CNN anchor Poppy Harlow invited Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan to rip President Joe Biden’s speech about threats to democracy, asking him, “was that the wrong argument for Democrats to win?”

On Wednesday night, the president delivered a blistering address connecting recent political violence to the election denialism that led to the attack on the Capitol, just steps from where he spoke.

But on Thursday’s edition of CNN This Morning, Harlow opened her interview with Ryan by inviting criticism that Biden did not focus on other issues. Ryan, despite a demonstrated past willingness to criticize his own party and Biden, declined that invitation:

POPPY HARLOW: Good morning. We have a lot to get to with you. We thank you for your time. You heard the president last night, right? He didn’t make an argument on the economy. His argument was about, this election is all about defending democracy. Was that the wrong argument for this election, for Democrats to win?

REP. TIM RYAN: Well, you know, we have to be able to address both of these issues. I’m very focused on the economy, as you played the tax cut, people are crushed. I mean, this inflation is is killing people. You could be a home health care worker in Cleveland or you can be a construction worker in southern Ohio where you have to drive a lot, the gas prices are killing you. So we need to put money in people’s pockets. We need a tax cut. We need it now.

But then you see the level of extremism going on with candidates like J.D. Vance, who I’m running against. You see what Donald Trump Jr. Posted after the Paul Pelosi incident, the derogatory remarks against him. Like, there is a level of political violence happening in the country that absolutely needs to be confronted. Bunch of election deniers, which is, from 2020, which is the quickest way to undermine the democracy, and then the extremism that’s coming on a national abortion ban or banning books in schools and all of that stuff.

We have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. In the United States, it’s a complicated country, which means you need good leaders who can focus both on the economy and preserving our democracy.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.