WATCH: Biden reminisces about the 'old days' of 'eating lunch together' with 'segregationists'

On Friday afternoon, Joe Biden made a speech about the economy at a manufacturing facility in Hamilton, Ohio.

However, at one point the President expressed regret on how the country’s current political climate makes it impossible for him to have lunch with those of different political leanings, speaking specifically in regards to segregationists.

At the United Performance Metals workshop in Butler County, Biden said:

"We always used to fight like hell, and even back in the old days when we had real segregationists like Eastland, and Thurman, all those guys. But at least we ended up eating lunch together. Things have changed, we gotta bring it back."

Leading up to the comment, Biden complemented how Republican Senator Rob Portman was willing to cooperate with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law efforts in DC.

President Biden expressed regret that Portman was retiring, calling him "one of the good guys." Both the Democrat and Republican Senators of Ohio joined Biden on stage during the speech.

The speech comes at the end of a week that divided Washington DC over how to respond to a leaked Supreme court draft opinion indicating a likely overturn of Roe v Wade.

At another part of the speech, Biden expressed optimism about the USA "waking up" because of his economic strategy. As CNN pointed out earlier this week, their latest polling shows half of Americans are worried most about the state of the economy above all other problems, and two-thirds disapprove of the current administration’s policies.

According to the schedule, the speech by Biden happened after he met with staff at the United Performative Metals business to see "new additive manufacturing technologies at work." He used the occasion to urge congress to pass his Bipartisan Innovation Act, which the White House claims would boost aspects of the American economy.

A Bloomberg reporter observed Biden mingling with the crowd afterward, noting that he did not seem at all concerned about Covid.

Today’s occasion comes amid previous comments made earlier this week by the President, where he called the "MAGA crowd" the "most extreme political organization that’s existed in recent American history."

Joe Biden’s history with the segregationist "crowd" has goes back to the 1970s where early on in his career he was credited for opposing school integration efforts.