Hours before the Democratic National Convention kicks off, President Donald Trump is claiming presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) would strip America of its freedom.
During a campaign speech in Mankato, Minnesota, Trump said the 2020 presidential election is about “the survival of our nation.”
“This is a very important, in my opinion, I used to say 2016, and I must tell you I think this is going to be the most important election in the history of the country,” Trump said.
He went on to claim that Biden is a “puppet of left-wing extremists” who want to “erase our borders, eliminate our police, indoctrinate our children, vilify our heroes, take away our energy … destroy our Second Amendment, attack the right to life, and replace American freedom with left-wing fascism.”
Watch the video below:
MOMENTS AGO: President Trump says Biden-Harris victory will usher in "left-wing fascism." pic.twitter.com/zJwlDLbfOl
— The Hill (@thehill) August 17, 2020
Trump has long sought to paint Biden as a “puppet” of radical leftists who want to destroy the country and implement a socialist agenda.
However, it is unclear how well has attacks have worked in shaping voters’ views of the former vice president.
According to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, 55% of respondents in Georgia view Biden as “liberal,” while 24% of respondents say they view him as a “moderate.”
Additionally, 36% of respondents view Biden as “very liberal,” while 19% said he is “somewhat liberal.”
But among respondents who describe themselves as moderates, those numbers are a little different, with 45% of respondents saying Biden is moderate and 20% saying they view him as “very liberal.”
Biden has tried to distance himself from some of the policy goals Trump accused him of supporting, such as defunding police departments, as IJR reported.
While Trump has tried to paint Biden and Harris as radicals, their supporters have pushed back and argued that they would be pragmatic moderates.
However, others have argued that Biden has adopted one of the most progressive agendas in decades, but has avoided scrutiny by carefully parsing his words in describing his agenda.
As Peter Beinart wrote in The Atlantic, “He’s adopted policies that are strikingly progressive while stopping just shy of the specific formulations that might leave him vulnerable to Republican attack.”
Trump’s comments are the first in a series of public events he has scheduled to counter-program the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday night.