The Democratic presidential nominee says the President and his allies are ratcheting up fearful rhetoric for political gain
“These guys are rooting for violence,” Biden said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “That is what it is all about.”
Biden cited a quote from top White House aide Kellyanne Conway to make his point. Conway told Fox News on Thursday morning that “the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better news for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.”
Biden pushed back against that attack, saying he denounced violent protests “a long time ago,” adding that there is “no justification whatsoever for violence or looting” because it “takes away from the whole rationale for what is happening here.”
And Biden noted that all of the violence Trump and others are decrying is currently happening in “Donald Trump’s America.”
“They are just flat wrong,” Biden said, “as usual.”
When Cooper pushed Biden about whether he believes Trump is actively hoping for violence, Biden said bluntly, “Absolutely.”
“It takes everybody’s eye of all the ball,” Biden said. “Want to talk about safety, look at the biggest safety issue in the nation: Covid. … He has been incompetent in the way in which he has dealt with this.”
“I’m getting attacked on my religion by Donald Trump,” Biden said. “When’s the last time he darkened the doorway of a church? Come on.”
“What Trump knows but won’t acknowledge is a lot of these men and women had brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, who have been victimized just because of their color, just because of their color,” Biden said. “They don’t need any more attention, they’re sick and tired.”
“They’ve become like a political organization and that’s not a good thing,” Trump said. “I don’t think that’s a good thing for sports or for the country.”
