The White House is defending itself from criticism of having two Marines stand behind President Joe Biden during a speech Thursday night in which he castigated "MAGA Republicans," saying the president was trying to honor the military. Presidents routinely use the military as a backdrop in speeches, but it becomes an issue when those speeches are partisan, said Peter Feaver, a civil-military relations expert at Duke University who was a White House adviser to former President George W. Bush. In addition to saying Biden was trying to respect the military, the White House also pushed back on criticism by arguing his speech was not political and by pointing to other presidents' use of service members in speeches.