Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday called President Donald Trump the first racist president in US history.
Biden offered the assessment at a virtual city hall organized by the International Union of Service Employees after Suk Kim, a South Korean immigrant, detailed having been racially outlined in a supermarket and expressed concern about Trump’s rhetoric about the coronavirus, including his referring to the coronavirus as the “China virus”.
Biden, the alleged Democratic presidential candidate, said he was “very angry” after learning of his experience before criticizing Trump for “his spread of racism.”
“The way he treats people based on their skin color, their national origin, where they are from, is absolutely disgusting,” Biden said. “No president-in-office has ever done this, never, never, never.
“No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president,” he continued. “We have had racists and they have existed, they have tried to be elected president, but he is the first to do so. And the way he confronts people against each other is designed to divide the country, divide the people, don’t put them together .
When asked about the comments at a press conference on Wednesday, Trump cited the passage of the First Step Act, a prison reform measure, and a lower unemployment rate among blacks and Hispanic Americans during his term “before of the plague of China. “
“I have done more for African Americans than anyone with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln,” Trump said. “No one else has been around.”
Trump has been accused of fostering anti-Asian sentiment by referring to the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, such as the “China virus,” the “Kung flu,” and the “China pandemic.”
Several of the nation’s presidents held slaves or expressed racist views. The White House was built with slave labor.
Biden’s campaign recognized previous racist presidents in a later statement, but said Trump is different.
“There have been a number of racist American presidents, but Trump stands out, especially in modern history, because he made the fight against racism and division his calling card and won,” said senior adviser Symone Sanders. “He deliberately encourages both, intentionally causing indescribable pain because he believes it benefits him politically.”
Trump previously claimed that Biden called him “racist” and “xenophobic” for restricting travel from China this year. Biden has called Trump’s handling of the pandemic xenophobic, though he did not specifically link the claim to travel restrictions.
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Biden’s comments Wednesday seemed to be the first time he had directly called Trump racist. He previously accused Trump of “fanning the flames of white supremacy” and likened the president to George Wallace, who ran for president on a segregationist platform.
Katrina Pierson, Trump’s senior campaign adviser, said in a statement that Trump “loves all people, works hard to empower all Americans, and is supported by more black voters than any Republican presidential candidate in modern history.” .
“No one should take Joe Biden lectures on racial justice,” he said.
