Biden decries deadly violence in cities, calls on President Trump to join him.
President accused of ‘poisoning democracy’
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden repeated his disavowal of violence after a man was fatally shot in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday. Biden asked President Donald Trump to join him in condemning violence of all political stripes.
“The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by any one, whether on the left or the right.
“And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same.”
In one of his sharpest attacks yet, Biden on Monday called Trump a “toxic presence in this nation for four years” and accused Trump of “poisoning the values this nation has always held dear, poisoning our very democracy.”
Biden’s speech in Pittsburgh marked a new phase of the campaign as increases his travel after largely remaining near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And, after centering his candidacy on accusing Trump of mishandling the pandemic, Biden is making a broader push to argue that Americans won’t be safe if Trump wins reelection.
Trump tweeted on Monday: “The Radical Left Mayors & Governors of Cities where this crazy violence is taking place have lost control of their ‘Movement.’ It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but the Anarchists & Agitators got carried away and don’t listen anymore even forced Slow Joe out of basement!”
The fatal shooting in Portland occurred during clashes between a group of protesters and Trump supporters. The victim was a member of the rightwing group Patriot Prayer. His death came days after Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was charged in the shooting of three protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, two of them fatally. The three protesters were shot during demonstrations against police brutality after video showed officers shoot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back in Kenosha.
Many Democrats, including Biden, accused Trump of agitating the situation. On Sunday, Trump commented on a tweet showing a caravan of his supporters rolling into Portland, calling them “GREAT PATRIOTS!” Members of that caravan were involved in the clashes with protesters.
Over the weekend, the president posted a flurry of tweets denouncing the protesters, calling for a crackdown to stop them and showing videos of demonstrators engaging in violence, as well as a video of a Black man shoving a white woman that appears unrelated to the protests. At a New Hampshire rally Friday he rejected the idea of peaceful protesters.
“They’re not protesters,” Trump told the crowd. “Those are anarchists. They’re agitators. They’re rioters. They’re looters.”
Contributing: Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel