Only on Fox News would a president’s hope for backyard cookouts across the country on Independence Day be grounds for accusing him of being “un-American.” But Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway was up to the smear job.

In case you missed President Joe Biden’s speech, here’s what he said in his address to the nation tonight about his hopes for July 4th:

Because here’s the point: If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there’s a good chance you, your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbeque and celebrate Independence Day. That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.
 
After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark our independence from this virus. 

Oh, how dare he!

Hemingway, perhaps suffering withdrawal from her condescending lectures to the media about its coverage of Donald Trump, seems to have jumped off the Biden-hating deep end with tonight’s lecture on The Ingraham Angle after Biden’s remarks. She must have felt some relief that she was able to work in a lecture that not enough “gratitude” was shown to Trump. She even wore her customary smirk:

HEMINGWAY: There was no mention of what the previous administration did. The only thing that has really worked in this entire coronavirus pandemic is developing the vaccine and that was something done in the previous administration. There was no gratitude for that. There were these threats that if you didn't do what Joe Biden wanted, he might lock the country down again.

And then to pick Independence Day as the day where he says he might allow people to gather is just so un-American and just – you know, Joe Biden doesn't get to tell me when I can have a barbecue in my backyard and certainly not to tie that to Independence Day. It does feel like we've lost something as a country that so many people are willing to do this type of draconian restrictions from the government for this level of a problem. If they're willing to do it for this situation, for this length of time without enough merit, it's a very bad sign for the days to come.

Of course, Biden did not say you can’t have a barbecue or cookout before then. He was saying he hopes we can all do so with fewer restrictions than last year.

Not surprisingly, Ingraham did not correct the record. She moved on by sneering to the other guest: “If the checks keep coming, keep putting off the reopening.” Then she invited everyone to visit the “open” states of Florida, Texas and North Dakota on July 4th.

You can watch Hemingway smirk at impugning Biden’s patriotism below, from the March 11, 2021 The Ingraham Angle, via Media Matters.