Democratic challenger Joe Biden charged Tuesday that President Trump is “determined to fuel division and chaos” in cities where protests are at their peak to “revive a failed campaign.”
The former vice president, answering questions after a speech in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, also reiterated that he would choose his running mate for “the first week of August.”
BIDEN REVEALS PLAN TO ADDRESS RACIAL ECONOMIC INEQUALITY
Biden has said for a couple of months that his career partner announcement will be made in early August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which begins on August 17. The former vice president told reporters: “I promise, I will let you know when to do.”
The presumed Democratic presidential candidate, after presenting the fourth component of his plan to revive a US economy crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, said: “I think I have presented the most detailed plans on the economy” and touted “if I am elected and this come in, I’m going to become one of the most progressive presidents in the history of the United States. “
Biden spoke to journalists as violence continues to erupt in some cities across the country. Demonstrations protesting police brutality and racial injustice were sparked by the death two months ago of George Floyd, a black man in Minnesota who died in police custody. Protesters in recent weeks around the Portland, Oregon federal court have clashed with federal agents under the control of the Department of Homeland Security.
The former vice president said near the top of his speech that “when President Obama and I were in office, we protected federal property.” We were able to do it without the Department of Homeland Security becoming a private militia. And it can be done today, but that would not help Trump’s political interests. “
Biden later charged that the president “was determined to fuel division and chaos. It is not good for the country, but Donald Trump does not care. His campaign is failing and he is looking for a political lifeguard. This is not about the law. and order. This is a strategy to revive a failed campaign. “
TRUMP TO INCREASE FEDERAL AGENTS TO CHICAGO, OTHER CITIES
The President recently announced that he would send federal agents to other cities experiencing increasing crime rates, starting with Chicago. Trump called it an “increase in federal law enforcement in American communities plagued by violent crime.”
At the same time, the president, his reelection campaign, and allied groups have attacked Biden for being soft on crime and accused him of wanting to strip the police, which the former vice president has repeatedly denied. The Trump campaign for weeks has also carpeted radio waves in key states on the general election battlefield with television commercials targeting Biden over the violence.
Democrats have accused the president of scare tactics in an attempt to win back suburban voters who Trump captured in his 2016 victory but who fled the Republican Party in 2018 when Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives. Critics also accuse the president of highlighting the unrest to try to remove the political focus from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pointing to Trump’s ads, Biden told reporters that “it’s about trying to invent a strange law and ordering something from the 2020 campaign to scare the devil out of the American people … This is about division.” It’s about trying to divide the country. ”
And he emphasized that “so far, thank God, the American people have none of that” and “are not buying in this racial divide.”
WHERE THE BIDEN-TRUMP CAREER IS WITH LESS THAN 100 DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION
When asked how he would handle the riots in urban areas if he were in the White House right now, Biden said: “He would use the local police as we did when we were in office, when there were riots with federal property at stake.” We were able to take care of that. ”
Biden emphasized that “arsonists must be held accountable.” People who carry weapons must be held accountable. People involved in criminal activities must be held accountable and brought to trial … They must be found, arrested and tried. “
Trump’s swift re-election campaign accused Biden of having “zero idea of what is happening in Portland.”
Rapid Response Director Andrew Clark tweeted that “Joe Biden’s scathing response about trusting the” local police “in Portland shows how much he is uninformed about what is happening on the ground in Portland. Local police have tried to contain the riots for weeks, but local leaders are hampering their efforts to do so. “
The Trump campaign also highlighted Biden’s comment that he would be “” the most progressive president in history “if elected and his proposals become law. The Trump campaign warned that if Biden’s” radical agenda is approved, “Middle class families will not be able to afford Joe Biden’s radical shift to the left.”
