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In 1996, President Bill Clinton promised a “bridge to the 21st century” in Milwaukee. George W. Bush was calling John Kerry an Iraq war flip-flopper in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in 2004. Barack Obama spoke about his 2012 car salvage in Toledo, Ohio, but only after touring the damage. caused by the hurricane on the Gulf Coast.
“Biden is a stupid person. You know that,” he said under the federal-style portico, which was added to the building in 1829 to house guests arriving at the “president’s front door” on horseback.
But Biden wasn’t his only target.
He contacted Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, for questioning the safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine that rushed onto the market before Election Day, even as she continued to project an expedited timeline. that health experts cautioned is unrealistic.
He defended himself against accusations that he does not respect the military, even when he accused top Pentagon officials of working to enrich military contractors at the expense of the troops.
And Trump insisted that he was shutting down attempts to reevaluate US history to take into account the experiences of oppressed groups, even as he claimed to be against the “culture of cancellation.”
Trump was even upset when reporters tried to question him while he was wearing masks, a practice he has inconsistently recommended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus while mocking those who follow health advice.
It was a somewhat discursive and decidedly non-traditional Labor Day for a president who has repeatedly attacked his rival for not leaving his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to campaign. Biden, Harris and Vice President Mike Pence were making campaign stops in person on Monday.
Trump will enter the campaign later this week in North Carolina and Michigan. But on Monday he seemed content to fight his rhetorical battles from home.
Vaccine
“It undermines science. What’s happening is that all of a sudden you have this incredible vaccine and because of that false rhetoric, it is political rhetoric,” he said.
“I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump and that he would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and reliability of whatever he is talking about,” he said.
Still, even as the president denied that he himself was using the vaccine race for political gain, he raised the prospect of a major development over the next month.
“It’s going to be – it’s going to be done in a very short period of time. You could even have it during the month of October,” he said. CNN reported last week that Trump is increasing pressure on his administration to develop a vaccine quickly, aware of the potential benefit to his political prospects.
“Contrary to all lies, the vaccine – they are political lies, they will say anything, and it is so dangerous for our country, whatever they say – but the vaccine will be very safe and very effective and it could be delivered very soon. It could have a big surprise next, “he said Monday.
Military
“I’m not saying that the military is in love with me; the soldiers are the most important people in the Pentagon, they probably aren’t, because they don’t want to do anything but fight wars so that all those wonderful companies that make the bombs and the planes and make everything else happy. But we are coming out of endless wars, “Trump said.
There has been little masking of recent tensions between Trump and his military leadership, including the use of American troops in American cities and the renaming of military installations named after Confederate generals.
Still, Trump’s comment Monday was notable for its suggestion that the four-star generals are simply trying to line the pockets of corporations; the indictment reflected a dramatic break from the commander in chief that will only exacerbate the existing tension.
“No,” Trump said. “I have nothing against John.” That was a different message than on Friday, when Trump told reporters that Kelly had left the White House “exhausted.”
When Trump was asked about his promise to withdraw federal funding from schools that teach Project 1619, a New York Times collection that seeks to rethink American history around when the first slave ships arrived at the American shores, he condemned what he called “canceling culture.”
“We grew up with a certain history and now they are trying to change our history,” he said.
