Speaker Johnson slams 'desperate' Biden after calling GOP 'worse' than segregationists at fundraiser

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President Biden this week attacked the Republican Party as worse than segregationists, prompting backlash from party leaders.

Biden made the remarks at a fundraiser on Wednesday, saying the current GOP is worse than the "real racists" he served alongside in the 1970s.

"I've been a senator since '72. I've served with real racists. I've served with Strom Thurmond. I've served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race," Biden told the crowd at the fundraiser, according to the White House press pool.

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The president continued, "But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles."

Biden's words sparked backlash from GOP leaders — specifically Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who called the president "desperate" and "underwater in the polls."

"Outrageous," Johnson said on social media in reaction to the president's remarks. "The least popular President to seek re-election is now so desperate and so underwater in the polls he’s playing the race card from the bottom of the deck."

Strom Thurmond was a South Carolina senator and "Dixiecrat" presidential candidate who supported segregation.

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