After Joe Biden's inauguration, Newsmax personalities are distraught and enraged

Newsmax host Greg Kelly: “It’s actually OK to say you don’t want to see Joe Biden succeed”

Written by Jason Campbell

Published

On January 20, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. Newsmax, which gained prominence in the last months of the Trump administration as former President Donald Trump himself increasingly turned to the network, wasted no time denouncing the new president.

Since the presidential election, Newsmax questioned the legitimacy of Biden’s victory, gave guests a platform to call for assassination and a coup, hosted a QAnon conspiracy theorist, and falsely claimed that anti-fascist activists were behind the pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Now the network is undermining the new administration after it barely began.

Following his inauguration on Wednesday, Biden’s address focused on national unity. In fact, more than a quarter of all mentions of “unity” in presidential inaugural addresses were uttered by Biden yesterday, according to The Washington Post. Taking office after an administration that weaponized misinformation for political gain, Biden also focused his address on the importance and value of truth.

Minutes after Biden completed his inaugural address, host Tom Basile called Biden’s inaugural address “very dark” and “divisive.”

From the January 20, 2021, edition of Newsmax's John Bachman Now

TOM BASILE (ANCHOR): I thought the speech, as Mark said, it was full of cliches. But it was very dark. It was actually, you know, not unifying. It was actually quite divisive. It's very difficult to drive a unifying message when you're going to simultaneously talk about an overblown sense of white supremacy and systemic racism. And you lead a party that is driving cancel culture in America. You know, oftentimes when he was talking about unity I kept on thinking to myself, so does this apply to conservatives as well? Does this apply to pro-life people? Does this apply to people who've been cancelled at their jobs, at their universities, in the media, in their own lives because they believe in traditional American values, in more conservative values? 

Prime-time Newsmax co-host Lyndsay Keith criticized Biden’s inaugural address as “filled with emotion and not policy.” Her co-host, former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer, criticized the Biden administration as “all about style and rhetoric” over policy and decried the “far-left turn” it will bring to the country.

From the January 21, 2021, edition of Newsmax's Spicer & Co.

LYNDSAY KEITH (CO-HOST): You know, it is interesting because during his campaign we barely heard him talk about policy. Barely. He would say, “Oh, you'll find out if I become president." And now, you know, we mentioned this yesterday, his immigration policy, it kind of blindsided people because he hasn't talked about it. And I think you're going to start seeing more of that. And even his speech today, it was emotion-driven. And I think that is part of what so many people on the left embraced him because the country is hurting and he chose to use, you know, a lot of the hardships in his life, which I do not take those lightly or want to make light of them, but people almost were drawn to that hurt and he used it in a time of great hurt during the coronavirus, during social unrest, and you saw that again today in his rhetoric. It was filled with emotion and not policy. 

SEAN SPICER (CO-HOST): Yeah, but you know, Lindsay, it's funny. Every time that someone brought up on the campaign trail, during the campaigns about Trump's and his tweets - I'd say, “Great. So when was rhetoric and all of the style made you feel better? You know, put more money in your pocket?" Right. Tweets don't hurt you. Rhetoric doesn't help you, you know, graduate from college or take care of your health care costs. Policies do. And the president's policies were actually moving the country in the right direction. And now we've got back where we're all about style and rhetoric as opposed to actual policies. And, you know, I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to regret that real soon. 

KEITH: Yeah, I think you're right. And it's sad to see kind of where America is in that way. They want feel-good moments as opposed to strong, solid policies. 

SPICER: Yeah, I mean I think we already saw this off the, you know, off the bat today. We talked about it a little yesterday, we're going to break this down more coming up. But it's -- I don't think people fully appreciated the policies that are about to get implemented and the far-left turn that we're going to have. 

Nearly seven hours after Biden was sworn in as president, prime-time host Greg Kelly told his viewers that “it’s actually OK to say you don’t want to see Joe Biden succeed.”

From the January 20, 2021, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Tonight

GREG KELLY (HOST): How do you feel about Joe Biden? He is the president of the United States. It's OK, ladies and gentlemen, to say you do not wish the president success. It is. Now I wish him no harm, of course, and I want him to be happy and healthy in his life, but I wish Joe Biden no success. I don't want him to reenter the Paris Climate Accord. It's OK to say that. I don't him stacking the Supreme Court, as he pretty much said he would during the campaign. I don't want him to succeed at that. I don't want him reentering any nuclear deal, that was so flawed, with the Iranians. I don't want to see that. So, it's actually OK to say you don't want to see Joe Biden succeed. Remember, he is the head of the executive branch. OK? And we've got three branches, they are all co-equal. Fair enough? Fair enough.  

Shortly after Biden signed his first executive orders, prime-time host Grant Stinchfield said they are “tearing away at the fabric of this great nation” and claimed, “There is nothing in the national anthem that Joe Biden seems to value.”

From the January 20, 2021, edition of Newsmax's Stinchfield

GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): So I, like you, listened to the beauty of those iconic songs. They capture the greatness of America. And I thought the irony here. This is Joe Biden's first day, and he signed an executive order after executive order aimed at tearing away at the fabric of this great nation. Did he not hear the uplifting words of freedom weaved into those patriotic anthems? And, of course, the marching songs of the military, a symbol of the Defense Department rebuilt by President Trump and sadly about to be gutted by President Biden. There is nothing in the national anthem that Joe Biden seems to value. Yet, the media love fest continued. 

Prime-time host Rob Schmitt said Biden’s executive order to promote racial equity is merely “virtue signalling.” Schmitt’s guest, the Rev. C.L. Bryant, declared Donald Trump to be “the only legitimate president of the United States.”

From the January 20, 2021, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight

ROB SCHMITT (HOST): When you look at this, I mean it's so interesting because we're starting to get that feeling again that I think a lot of Americans had pre-2016 when you just watched government do what government does best: not a lot. A lot of talk. A lot of this virtue signalling, we talking about it all the time, saying the right thing, getting almost nothing done. This, to me, is a perfect example of that. It's a lot of words on a piece of paper that's going to do absolutely nothing. But it appeases somebody, I guess. Do you think that's where the government is headed back to? 

C.L. BRYANT (FREEDOMWORKS SENIOR FELLOW): The warmth of the swamp that the former president -- and in my opinion Rob, I've got to tell you this, still the only legitimate president of the United States in my estimation. But and the warmth of the swamp that he wanted and was draining is what Mitch McConnell -- I have to say it -- and the Democrats were used to and they were comfortable with. That's what they wanted back. But I have a feeling that the American people are awakening to what is going on because we are being scammed. We are being hoodwinked and bamboozled, and we are tired of it.

Host Rob Finnerty said on January 21, “It’s President Obama’s third term starting in earnest today.”

From the January 21, 2021, edition of Newsmax's Wake Up America