Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden addresses the economy and Trump’s reported comments about the military and veterans.
“If what is written in the Atlantic is true, it’s disgusting, and it supports what many of us believe are true: Donald Trump is not fit to be commander in chief,” Biden said.
Biden noted that Trump has repeatedly dismissed those killed, wounded or captured in defense of the United States: John McCain’s imprisonment in the Hanoi Hilton, dismissing the TBI suffered by our service members serving in Iraq as ‘just a headache’, and Putin putting bounties on the lives of US soldiers.
Addressing the recent job reports and economic outlooks, Biden said the economic inequities present before the shutdown have gotten worse during the recovery.
Biden noted that economists are starting to call this a “K-shaped recession: The K means that those at the top are seeing things go up, and those in the middle and bottom are seeing things get worse.”
“It’s almost like [Trump] doesn’t doesn’t care, because it doesn’t affect him or it doesn’t affect his class of friends,” Biden said of the plight of the working class during coronavirus pandemic.
Biden commented, “The jobs report shows that 27 million workers couldn’t work or lost hours” because of their employer had to close or lost business due to the pandemic.”
“To the shock of many: we lost more cops due to COVID than on patrol,” Biden said. “It goes to show the dangers of law enforcement on the job.”
“Opioid deaths are up during the pandemic,” Biden noted, “another crisis Trump chooses to all but ignore.”
“In the meantime, Trump and his friends have strong views about what the rest of America should do,” Biden said. “Quote, ‘Cut unemployment benefits to force people to go back to their jobs,’ end of quote. Defund Social Security and eliminate Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic. … Reopen public schools without resources or guidance. Reopen Main Street businesses without protection for workers, so corporations can continue to soar. This is their plan?”
Citing Trump’s repeated references to the stock market as an indicator of US economic success, Biden said, “A measure of our economic success is the quality of life for the American people, and if your stock soars as families teeter on the brink of hunger and homelessness, then the President calls that success. What does that say about what he values.
“When you see the world in such a narrow prism, it’s no wonder he doesn’t see nearly 30 million Americans on unemployment, or one-in-six small businesses that are closed right now.”
Upon taking questions from reporters, Biden was asked about Trump’s support for QAnon conspiracy theorists, who propagate stories of child sex trafficking rings and conspiracies against President Trump, Biden replied: “I’ve been a big supporter of mental health. I believe that people who believe it should take advantage of it while it still exists under the Affordable Care Act.”
Biden also poked at Trump’s claim that he knows someone who was on a plane full of antifa rioters. “Have you guys found that planeload of people in uniforms and weapons flying around? Have you found them yet?”
Asked about AG Barr’s claim that China is a bigger threat to US elections that Russia or Iran, Biden commented that Barr’s statement was not consistent with intelligence briefings he’s received. “He’s a lousy enough Attorney General, but he’s a really bad intelligence officer.”
“There are a lot of countries around the world, I think, that would like to see our elections destabilized,” Biden noted, “but the one that’s been working the hardest and most consistently and has never let up is Russia.”
Asked by a reporter why Biden has restrained himself and isn’t visibly angrier about Trump’s insults to the troops despite people asking why he doesn’t react more, Biden responded directly, “Because Presidents of the United States should act presidential, as well as be clear about exactly where we stand.” Biden went on to note Trump’s pettiness, calling it “in the gutter,” from requiring the Navy to cover the name of the USS John C. McCain on the tailfin of the ship to insulting George HW Bush for being shot down in World War II.
Asked about Trump’s continued degradation of our election system and mail-in voting system, Biden said he faces a conundrum in how to respond to it, because “the more chaos that’s sow here, it’s going to disincline people to show up. In a sense, I feel that everytime I speak about it, I feel like I’m playing in his game.”
Asked about Friday’s jobs report that noted 1.4 million jobs were recovered in the US economy, Biden commented, “I think any job added back is positive. I think it matters to the people who got that job back.” Biden noted that while people are getting jobs, many people are back to work on a part-time basis, but noted that joblessness or part-time employment adds to stress and anxiety in households due to income and healthcare uncertainty.
In a stark contrast to Trumpism, Biden said, “I’m not being solicitous, among the brightest people I’ve dealt with in my whole career have been the press. Not a joke. You’re all extremely well educated. You’re well-read, have significant backgrounds and, um, and the vast majority have tried to report the news, not just opinion. But I can’t believe that you don’t feel the same kind–not Democrat or republican–you don’t feel the same anxiety when you have a brother or sister, a mother or father, a son or a daughter who’s going through what you’re not, what we’re not. We have jobs–well, I don’t have a job now [as a candidate]–but we have jobs. But it’s a real concern. And I think this has moved beyond ‘Democrat/republican’. I think it’s moved to, um, trying to put this country back together again so we can move.”