As the establishment of the Democrat Party begins to circle the wagons around former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid in order to block U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders from clinching the nomination, Biden’s former rivals are coming out of the woodwork to throw their support behind his campaign.
Even Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke is getting in on the action.
At a rally in Dallas on Monday evening, in which former Democrat presidential hopefuls Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar offered their endorsement to Biden ahead of the Super Tuesday primary elections, O’Rourke took to the stage to refer to Biden as “somebody who can re-establish the moral authority of the United States.”
“We need somebody who will fight for democracy here and abroad because democracy is under attack here and abroad,” he said. “We need Joe Biden.”
The most troubling aspect of the address, however, might have been how Biden responded.
After O’Rourke handed the microphone back to Biden, he thanked O’Rourke for his endorsement and pledged to use him to “take care of the gun problem.”
“I want to make something clear: I’m going to guarantee you this is not the last you’re seeing of this guy,” Biden said. “You’re going to take care of the gun problem with me. You’re going to be the one who leads this effort. I’m counting on you. We need you badly. The state needs you. The country needs you. You’re the best.”
If Biden follows through on this promise, it could spell trouble for gun owners across the country. O’Rourke, who shied away from talking about gun restrictions during his campaign for U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz in 2018, decided to lunge to the extreme left during his short-lived presidential campaign last year.
O’Rourke has called for mass gun confiscation, proudly declaring, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.”
“If someone does not turn in an AR-15 or an AK-47—one of these weapons of war—or brings it out in public and brandishes it in an attempt to intimidate … then that weapon will be taken from them,” O’Rourke said during a Democrat debate in October. “If they persist, there will be other consequences from law enforcement.”
Biden’s embrace of O’Rourke should serve as a stark reminder that in today’s Democrat Party, even the so-called “moderate” candidates are on the extreme left.
