TRUMP MOCKS BIDEN FOR ‘STAYING IN AGAIN’
Trump crisscrosses country to attend events with no virus precautions
WITH just 39 days until the United States election, President Donald Trump ramped up his campaigning with back-to-back events on Friday in battleground states — a frenetic pace in contrast with the more sedate approach of Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The 74-year-old president’s gruelling 12-hour, three-state schedule culminated with a night-time rally in Newport News, Virginia. By that time, local media was reporting that he was set to nominate judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, who, if confirmed, would cement a solid conservative majority on the country’s highest court.
“We are going to be announcing somebody great,” he said without mentioning a name. Tomorrow (today), I think is going to be a big day!” he added, as the crowd roared with approval.
Trump, who trails Biden in national polling and is narrowly behind in several swing states seen as crucial to his path to re-election, is under pressure to make the most of the remaining weeks before the Nov 3 election.
During his whirlwind day, the president mocked his rival for a lower-energy campaign, saying Biden was “staying in again today”.
“This guy never goes out. It’s terrible, huh?” he told a black economic empowerment event in Atlanta, where few people wore masks and social distancing was non-existent.
“If I lose to a man who doesn’t campaign... I don’t know,” he told the laughing crowd.
Biden travelled from his home in Delaware on Friday to attend a ceremony at the US Capitol as late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state.
But there was no in-person campaigning on the former vicepresident’s schedule.
Trump then returned to Washington to gather with supporters and flew to a Make America Great Again rally here in Virginia.
Biden’s campaign has been cautious. He spent months mostly hunkered down in his Delaware home. While he has increased campaigning in swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, his events are tightly scripted with only occasional interaction with voters.