Category: Joe Biden

Biden accuses Trump of ‘recklessly encouraging violence’ in response to Portland shooting

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the violence in Portland, Ore., accusing President Trump of “fanning the flames of hate and division in our society” and “recklessly encouraging violence.”

“We must not become a country at war with ourselves,” Biden said in a statement. “But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are. … All of us are less safe because Donald Trump can’t do the job of the American president.”

His response came after Trump denounced Black Lives Matter protesters as “agitators and thugs” on Sunday morning, calling for a federal crackdown on demonstrations in cities such as Washington and Portland, where a man died after tensions between pro-Trump and liberal groups burst into violence. Continue reading.

Kitchen Table Conversation with Sen. Harris, Sen. Smith, & Lieutenant Governor Flanagan

On Sept 2nd, Sen. Harris joins Sen. Tina Smith and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan for a conversation with Senator Bobby Joe Champion, Rep. Rena Moran, and Minnesotans from the Twin Cities about the challenges they are facing with the return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More information and RSVP here.

Biden to resume in-person campaigning as race with Trump kicks into gear

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will resume in-person campaigning across the country in coming days amid the still-raging coronavirus pandemic, an answer to allies imploring him to meet voters where they are and a sign that his race with President Trump is tightening as the general election contest begins in earnest.

Coming out of back-to-back national conventions that both parties considered successful, Trump aides said the president is determined to exploit the racial unrest in Kenosha, Wis., and other places where Black Lives Matter protesters have been active to amplify his “law and order” message.

Trump aims to cast Biden and running mate Kamala D. Harris as agents of far-left radicals in a bid to scare suburban White women and other key voters back into the Republican fold. The president plans to press his case Tuesday by visiting Kenosha to meet with law enforcement and survey damage there. Continue reading.

Trump Says He Will “Save” The American Dream As His Policies Fail Working People

Unemployment is in double-digits, renters are scared of eviction notices, aid is stuck, and economic recovery seems to have slowed.

Republicans want Americans to believe that Joe Biden would “demolish” the American dream.

“This election will decide whether we save the American dream,” Trump said while accepting the Republican nomination for president on the final night of the Republican National Convention. “Or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.”

Speaker after speaker repeated the same message: Trump is the only candidate who can save the American dream, Democrats’ insistence on expanding the social safety net will stymie individuals’ opportunities, and Republicans are the party of dreaming big. Continue reading.

Tax experts dispute Trump’s claims about Biden’s tax plan

On the final night of the Republican National Convention, president Donald Trump warned that former vice president and Democratic candidate Joseph Biden would raise taxes on “almost all American families” and impose corporate taxes that would lead to the collapse of the stock market and the economy.

This isn’t true, experts say. And when it comes to tax plans, Trump offered little in the way of concrete policy or figures.

Craig Wild, senior partner at Wild, Maney & Resnick, LLP, said the President’s accomplishments on the tax front promised more than they delivered, particularly for ordinary Americans.

“The tax reductions, first of all did not help the middle class,” Wild said. That’s especially true in high cost-of-living states where the amount of property tax and mortgage interest taxpayers could deduct dropped sharply. “Wealthier people were helped, as were corporations.” Continue reading.

Top general says no role for military in presidential vote

The U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer told Congress in comments released Friday.

The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses. 

Trump’s repeated complaints questioning the election’s validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results. Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his reelection prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature. Continue reading.

RNC vs. DNC Ratings: Kamala Harris Draws 5.7 Million More Viewers Than Mike Pence

Someone start playing the Rocky theme music because the DNC’s ratings might have just delivered the knockout punch to the RNC score. Viewership for the Republican National Convention fell on its third night, in sharp contrast to the gains the DNC saw last week for Night 3. 

According to early Nielsen numbers, about 15.7 million viewers watched the Republican National Convention during the 10 p.m. hour across six networks: Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS. That’s down about 2.3 million viewers from the previous night, which featured a speech from First Lady Melania Trump. By comparison, the Democratic National Convention pulled 21.4 million viewers across those same six networks on Night 3, which was up 2.2 million from its previous night’s viewership numbers.

The RNC’s big Night 3 speaker was President Donald Trump‘s running mate and Vice President Mike Pence. Pence spoke about the administration’s support of the families in the path of hurricane Laura and its dedication to the American armed forces and veterans, and he praised Trump’s response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Continue reading.

Trump draws fewer viewers than Biden for convention speech

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President Trump‘s convention speech drew fewer views than former Vice President Joe Biden‘s, according to preliminary numbers released by Nielsen Media Research. 

Trump accepted his party’s nomination from the south lawn of the White House on Thursday night.

An estimated 19.9 million Americans watched Trump’s speech on television, while Democratic nominee Joe Biden drew 21.7 million viewers the week before. Continue reading.

‘It’s not supposed to be about him’: Harris scorches Trump in prebuttal of acceptance speech

The Democratic vice presidential nominee accused the president of deadly incompetence and “a reckless disregard for the well-being of the American people.”

Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a devastating rebuke of Donald Trump, hammering the president for his sluggish response to the coronavirus pandemicand spiraling racial unrest — and what she said was a lack of meaningful attention paid to both at the Republican National Convention.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee began her speech by addressing the “pain, hurt and destruction” caused by wildfires raging in California and Colorado and Hurricane Laura in the Gulf of Mexico, and also by this week’s police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., which has prompted at-times-violent protests.

Harris spoke emotionally about Blake, who she emphasized was “shot seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons.”The California senator painted a contrast between Trump and the Democratic ticket of herself and Joe Biden, expressing support for peaceful protesters and the Blake family, and calling their experience “tragically common in our country.” Continue reading.

Biden: Trump ‘rooting for more violence’

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday accused President Trump of “rooting” for violence amid the unrest in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

“He views this as a political benefit to him. You know, he’s rooting for more violence, not less. And he’s clear about that. And what’s he doing, he’s pouring more gasoline on the fire,” Biden said on MSNBC.

The former vice president cited comments from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who told Fox News earlier in the day that “the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.” Continue reading.