Biden accuses Trump of ‘rooting for more violence’
Joe Biden accused President Trump on Thursday of “rooting for more violence” at a moment of national unrest over racism and police brutality, offering one of his most extensive responses yet to the Republican argument that he would be a weak leader on law enforcement and criminal justice.
After several days out of the spotlight during the Republican National Convention,
Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, spoke on MSNBC against a backdrop of upheaval in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, that outraged many Americans.
Some protests in Wisconsin have turned destructive, and Republicans have made clear that they sense a political opportunity, with Vice President Mike Pence declaring Wednesday that “you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
Biden, for his part, sought to turn the focus back to the coronavirus and to cast the election as a choice between his promises of calm and Trump’s tendency to inflame already volatile situations that are developing under his presidency.
“He views this as a political benefit to him,” Biden said of the president. “He’s rooting for more violence, not less, and is clear about that. And what’s he doing? He’s kept pouring gasoline on the fire. This happens to be Donald Trump’s America.”
Biden was specifically referring to remarks earlier Thursday from Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s departing counselor, who said the president stood to benefit politically from the kind of unrest that had erupted in Kenosha.
“The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” Conway said on “Fox & Friends.”
Biden, who noted that he condemned “violence in any form, whether it’s looting or whatever it is,” did not rule out a trip to Wisconsin himself, if a visit could be managed safely amid the pandemic.
“If I were president, I’d be going,” said Biden, who has spoken with Blake’s family. “If I went, what I’d be doing is trying to pull together the Black community as well as the white community, and sit down and talk, and talk about how we get through this.”