Biden draws crowd at Ohio drive-in rally
TOLEDO, Ohio — Joe Biden says President Donald Trump’s response to getting COVID-19 underscores “he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“The longer Donald Trump is president, the more reckless he seems to get,” the former vice president told a honking drivein rally outside a United Auto Workers hall on Monday afternoon. “Trump panicked. His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis has been unconscionable.”
Biden also pointed to Trump’s campaign ad featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments taken out of context so it falsely appears like the White House health adviser was complimenting the president.
“Trump and his campaign deliberately lied,” he said.
With three weeks to go before the presidential campaign culminates in Election Day on Nov. 3, Biden had little new to offer in a talk that lasted less than a half-hour on a cloudy, 72-degree afternoon at a site surrounded by trees with vibrant yellow and orange leaves.
Much of the speech to a blue-collar crowd consisted of Biden portraying himself as a son of humble origins who got nothing handed to him as he grew up.
Noting the contrast with Trump’s gilded upbringing, Biden said, “I still have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because of guys like him.”
He said Trump only cares about the stock market.
“The only power we have to take on corporate power is union power,” he said as horns blared from vehicles across the parking lot. “I don’t respect people based on whether they’re in a mansion. I don’t judge them whether they’re based on whether they belong to a country club. You and I measure people by the strength of their character.”
The stakes of Biden’s appearances in Ohio on Monday were underscored before his speech by Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.
“The world is watching what happens in Toledo today,” the mayor said. “This state matters and that’s why it’s a big deal both campaigns are focusing on Ohio. They’re here because Ohio matters, but they’re also here because Ohio is a toss-up.”
The latter fact “is an indication of how much support Donald Trump has lost” in the Buckeye State since he carried the state by more than 8 percentage points four years ago, the mayor said.
“If we win Ohio, Donald Trump’s presidency is over,” Kapszukiewicz said — an assessment voiced by many political experts this year.
But as he enters the final three-week stretch run with a healthy lead in campaign cash and the polls, Biden is increasingly dogged by a question he won’t answer:
Does he support “packing” the U.S. Supreme Court?
The former vice president’s two stops Monday in bellwether Ohio, once regarded as all but unwinnable, was his second double-visit-day in less than two weeks.
But as confirmation hearings continue in Washington on Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the high court, the challenger who has released decades of his income tax forms and regularly discloses the results of his COVID tests says voters don’t need to know his stance on the prospect of increasing the Supreme Court’s size to lessen the impact of Trump nominees.
Biden refused to respond to that question during his Sept. 29 debate with Trump in Cleveland, saying he didn’t want his position to become the issue.