Biden Fondly Recalls ‘Real Segregationists,’ Says They’d ‘Fight Like Hell’ But ‘At Least We’d End Up Eating Lunch Together’
On Friday, President Joe Biden fondly recalled being able to have lunch with “real segregationists” in the U.S. Senate despite disagreeing with them.
Biden made the comment during a speech at a metals factory in Cincinnati, where he invoked segregationist former Sens. Strom Thurmond and James Eastland. He lamented the state of politics in Congress, particularly in the Senate.
Joe Biden reminisces about “the old days” when he used to eat lunch with “real segregationists.” pic.twitter.com/HxWuQlZJYq
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 6, 2022
“You know, things have kind of changed since the days when I first got there,” Biden stated. “I was there, I got elected when I was 29 years old in the United States Senate, from a very modest background. And I was there for 36 years before becoming vice president.
“We always used to fight like hell. And even back in the old days when we had real segregationists like Eastland and Thurmond and all those guys. But at least we’d end up eating lunch together. Things have changed. We gotta bring it back.”
Biden then turned to Republican Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and told him he’s “sorry” the senator is retiring.
The Senate is currently evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with Democrats maintaining majority control only through Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
It wasn’t the first time Biden talked about segregationists this way. Biden spoke fondly of Eastland at the National Prayer Breakfast in February. And he made similar remarks during the Democratic primary campaign in 2019. “We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done,” said Biden, who joked that Eastland “never called me ‘boy’; he always called me ‘son.'”
