Tag: Joe Biden

Biden blames Trump for coronavirus-related school closures, calls education gap a ‘national emergency’

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WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden on Wednesday sought to channel the frustrations of students, parents, and teachers around the country by squarely blaming President Trump for school districts’ inability to fully reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, who with his wife, Jill, received a briefing from education leaders here at a sparsely filled downtown theater, said the lack of in-person primary school education around the country was a “national emergency.”

“Let me be clear,” Biden said, in his second speech in three days taking direct aim at his Republican opponent. “If President Trump and his administration had done their jobs early on in this crisis, American schools would be open. And they’d be open safely.” Continue reading.

Presidential race tightens in Minnesota as Trump plows resources into state

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is favored to carry Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes but President Trump’s campaign is mounting a serious challenge, plowing resources into a state that hasn’t gone for the GOP presidential nominee since 1972, the longest such streak in the nation.

The Trump campaign went up with new ads on Wednesday accusing Biden of standing with “rioters and looters” in Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd in May sparked nationwide protests and demands for police reform.

The ad is part of $14 million in television reservations the Trump campaign has in Minnesota. Republicans are knocking on doors in the state and flooding mailboxes with literature. Vice President Pence visited last week to tout the support of rural mayors in the Iron Range, where mining and forestry are top occupations. Continue reading.

Commission on Presidential Debates announces moderators

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The Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday announced the moderators for the general election debates: Fox News’ Chris Wallace, USA Today’s Susan Page, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully and NBC News’ Kristen Welker.

What to watch: President Trump has previously been a harsh critic of Chris Wallace and attacked NBC as “fake news.”

What they’re saying: “These are not the moderators we would have recommended if the campaign had been allowed to have any input,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.

  • “One thing is sure: Chris Wallace’s selection ensures that Biden will finally see him face-to-face after dodging his interview requests,” he added. Continue reading.

DFL Party Statement on Donald Trump Jr.’s Plan to Visit Minnesota on Wednesday

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement in response to reports that Donald Trump Jr. will visit Minnesota next Wednesday:

“The Trump administration has failed Minnesotans, plain and simple. Donald Trump Jr. plans to visit our state next week in an attempt to distract from his father’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic that’s infected nearly 80,000 Minnesotans, and left thousands more out of work. Duluth’s July unemployment rate was higher than at any point during the Great Recession, and our state just saw our one-day record for positive coronavirus cases. Donald Trump Jr. was born into privilege and doesn’t understand what everyday Minnesotans are going through as a result of his father’s incompetence and failed economic policies. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris understand working families, and that’s why they will win Minnesota, help elect DFLers up and down the ballot, and make Donald Trump a one-term president.” 

How turnout and swing voters could get Trump or Biden to 270

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The 2020 election will come down to two important questions: Who actually votes, and who do they vote for? Starting with the 2016 electorate, explore how shifts in turnout and voting patterns for key demographic groups could affect the race. Either start with the example below, or design your own scenario.

Scenario: Biden improves on Clinton’s performance with White voters

Trump’s 2016 victory was largely driven by White voters. Throwing out third parties, he won this group 57 percent to 43 percent, a margin of roughly 15 percentage points. Continue reading.

‘Thugs’ on a plane: Trying to paint Biden as extreme, Trump ramps up promotion of conspiracy theories

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While trying to define Democratic rival Joe Biden as an avatar of lawless anarchists, President Trump has warned about rioters in the streets of liberal American cities. He has fanned fears of low-income minorities invading the suburbs.

And this week, he offered a new alert: “Thugs wearing dark uniforms,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, had crowded en masse onto a plane to fly to Washington and wreak havoc at the Republican National Convention last week.

“A lot of people were on the plane to do big damage,” Trump declared in a prime-time interview Monday. Continue reading.

Biden criticizes violence while blaming Trump for fomenting it

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday blamed President Trump for escalating violence at protests in cities across the country, while condemning the destructive elements of the racial justice demonstrations that he said are counterproductive to the cause.

Speaking at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Biden placed the blame for the civil unrest in the country squarely on Trump, saying the president has inflamed tensions since the police killing of George Floyd in May.

“This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country,” Biden said. “He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.” Continue reading.

Biden calls Trump ‘a toxic presence’ who is encouraging violence in America

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Joe Biden excoriated President Trump on Monday as a threat to the safety of all Americans, saying he was a “toxic presence” who has encouraged violence in the nation’s streets even as he has faltered in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

The direct repudiation of Trump came as Biden and the president launched into a caustic debate over violent protests that have escalated across the country in recent days, thrusting the presidential campaign into a new and more combustible phase centered on which man represents the biggest danger to America.

For his most extensive remarks since violence has broken out in recent days, Biden traveled to Pittsburgh and struck a centrist note, condemning both the destruction in the streets and Trump for creating a culture that he said has exacerbated it. Continue reading.

Trump and allies keep accusing Biden of not condemning violence — shortly after Biden condemns violence

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On Sunday at 4:13 p.m. Eastern time, Joe Biden issued a broad denunciation of the violence that has occurred at racial justice demonstrations across the country, saying, “I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right.”

About six hours later, at 10:36 p.m., President Trump asked, “When is Slow Joe Biden going to criticize the Anarchists, Thugs & Agitators in ANTIFA?”

We can parse these statements all day long, and the Trump argument seems to be that Biden needs to more explicitly condemn antifa — however much the amorphous group is actually responsible for the unrest. But practically speaking, he condemned violence by them, too. Continue reading.