On Friday, back at the White House, Biden tried to walk back some of the rhetoric he had used the night before. When asked by Fox News’s Peter Doocy whether he considered all Trump supporters a threat to the country, Biden said, “I don’t consider any Trump supporters a threat to the country.”

Given what Biden said in Philadelphia, that is simply impossible to believe. How could he mean what he said at Independence Hall and not consider any Trump supporters a threat to the country? Not possible. Then Biden continued: “When people voted for Donald Trump and support him now, they weren’t voting for attacking the Capitol. They weren’t voting for overturning an election. They were voting for a philosophy he put forward. I am not talking about anything other than, it is inappropriate … the failure to recognize and condemn violence when it is used for political purposes, failure to condemn the manipulation [of] election outcomes.”

Huh? Biden’s remarks at the White House cast a cloud of confusion over what he said the night before. Did he mean it? Did he fully understand the kind of accusations he was making in Philadelphia? Was he confused? The president’s rhetoric was terribly serious and terribly divisive. It was hard to understand why he even gave the speech. Now, it is not clear whether he understands it, either.