Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden claims President Donald Trump is trying to leverage unrest in several U.S. cities to his political advantage.
During a speech addressing ongoing violence across the country, Biden slammed Trump’s leadership, “The simple truth is Donald Trump failed to protect America. So now, he’s trying to scare America.”
He continued to slam Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to more than 183,000 deaths. He also slammed Trump’s handling of the economic recession and noted that the virus has complicated plans for schools to reopen for in-person learning in the fall.
“And since they have no agenda or vision for a second term, Trump and Pence are running on this: ‘You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,'” Biden said.
“And what’s their proof? The violence you’re seeing in Donald Trump’s America. These are not images from some imagined ‘Joe Biden’s America’ in the future. These are images from Donald Trump’s America today,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Joe Biden: “He’s supposed to be protecting this country, but instead he’s rooting for chaos and violence. The simple truth is Donald Trump failed to protect America. So now, he’s trying to scare America." https://t.co/nRAdpJJOD3 pic.twitter.com/oYXzC5Cmgd
— CNN (@CNN) August 31, 2020
Biden charged that despite Trump’s assertion that “if only he was president it wouldn’t happen,” there is unrest and violence in several U.S. cities.
He continued to say he sees an “opportunity for real progress on the issues of race and police reform and justice being put to the test.”
“Donald Trump looks at this violence and sees a political lifeline,” he added as he claimed the president is “rooting for chaos and violence.”
As protests turned violent in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon, over the past week, Biden has spoken out to condemn violence while voicing his support for peaceful protests.
His supporters have also accused Trump of fomenting violence, as IJR reported. On Sunday, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said the former vice president has shown strong leadership and accused Trump of fanning the flames of violence.
“It’s exactly the opposite of what we’ve been seeing from Trump who’s been trying to incite violence this entire summer,” she said.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both used their speeches at the Republican National Convention last week to claim that Americans would not be safe if Biden won the presidency, as IJR reported.
However, critics of the administration have repeatedly pointed out that the violence is taking place while Trump is in office.