WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden presented his most comprehensive and detailed case to date against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying the president “waved the white flag and left the battlefield” against the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, for about an hour, Biden also held positions on a variety of hot topics, including the alleged Russian rewards paid by the American troops killed in Afghanistan, the removal of Confederate monuments, and his own cognitive ability.
But with coronavirus cases on the rise across the country and several states revoking their reopening plans, Biden’s most effective lines against Trump were his criticism of the president’s response to a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 125,000 Americans since February.
Biden’s comments also came when Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s lead voice on the virus, warned Tuesday that the United States could exceed 100,000 cases per day.
“All the steps you have taken so far have not done the job, Mr. President,” Biden said of Trump, who still insists that the recent increase in cases is due to more extensive testing and not a resurgence of the virus. itself.
“Do you remember in March when he called himself president of war?” Biden said in his comments. “Remember when you called on the nation to ‘sacrifice yourself’ to confront an ‘invisible enemy’? What happened? It is almost July now, and it seems that the wartime president waved the white flag and abandoned the battlefield”.
“Today we face a serious threat, and we must face it, as a single country. But this president does not give us any direction. He faces us among us,” Biden said.
Biden used the speech to expose his own five-point plan to address the pandemic, one of several contrasts he made between Trump and himself.
The former vice president said he would provide free coronavirus testing across the country, deploy 100,000 contact trackers, set national standards for reopening, use the Defense Production Act to further increase protective equipment manufacturing, and provide additional federal support. older people of color, who have been especially affected by the virus.
The months of blockades that have paralyzed the United States economy, Biden said, “were intended to save us time to act together. But instead of using that time to prepare, Donald Trump wasted it.”
“The American people have not made huge sacrifices in the past four months, so they could waste their time with rants and tweets,” the former vice president said, addressing Trump. “They didn’t make these sacrifices so you can ignore science and turn responsible steps like wearing a mask into a political statement.”
“You’ve called yourself a ‘cheerleader’ for the nation. We don’t need a cheerleader. We need a president,” Biden said.
Biden also answered questions from the press for the first time in more than two months. In doing so, it deprived Trump’s rival campaign of a constant point of attack that they used against him, namely that he has thus far avoided career scrutiny by evading the press.
For Biden, the speech effectively crystallized the most powerful argument of his campaign against Trump in the final stretch of a presidential race that has so far been defined by Trump’s failure to stem the tide of coronavirus.
It’s a big factor in Biden’s significant lead over Trump in national polls right now of nearly 10 points, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average.
Biden dismissed his leadership and said, “I know the survey data is very good, but I think it is too early. It is too early to make a judgment. I think we have a lot of work to do.”
Biden also confirmed that he will not be holding campaign rallies and said: “I will follow the doctor’s orders, not only for myself, but also for the country. And that means I will not be holding rallies … as soon as this is over, I will come back to put the mask on. ”
The comments made another contrast between Biden’s plans in the coming months and the president’s reelection campaign, which last Tuesday said in a call to journalists that Trump is eager for future campaign rallies.
However, when asked about future rally plans, the Trump campaign declined to announce the dates or locations of the upcoming protests.
.
