Playing electoral defense, Trump claims Joe Biden opposes God
CLEVELAND – President Donald Trump billed his trip to Ohio Thursday as a chance to promote economic recovery, but he quickly pivoted to a deeply personal attack on Joe Biden, even questioning without foundation the former vice president’s faith in God.
Even for a president known for his blunt criticism, Trump’s remarks stood out and they signaled how contentious the campaign may get over the coming months.
“He’s following the radical left agenda, take away your guns, destroy your 2nd Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God. He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy, our kind of energy. I don’t think he’s going to do too well in Ohio,” Trump said.
Trump also used his trip to Ohio to talk trade, telling workers at a Whirlpool plant, “I will stand up to the foreign trade cheaters and violators that hate our country.”
Barely one month after a new North America trade agreement went into effect, Trump announced his intention to reimpose 10% tariffs on aluminum imported from Canada, saying that United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has advised him the step was necessary to defend the U.S. aluminum industry. However, the move also sets up the possibility of retaliation against U.S. companies and producers.
“Canada was taking advantage of us as usual,” Trump said.
The administration said the president had exempted Canada last year from tariffs he had imposed as long as imports of steel and aluminum from Canada remained at historical levels. But there has been a surge that has intensified in recent months despite a contraction in U.S. demand.
Trump also sought to remind voters of the economic prosperity that much of the nation enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic and said that he is best suited to rebuild a crippled economy. But his handling of the outbreak has weakened his bid for a second term, causing Trump to spend time and resources in a state he won easily in 2016 but now could be in danger of slipping away.
The virus already altered the trip even before Trump landed, with word that GOP Gov. Mike DeWine had tested positive for the coronavirus. DeWine had planned to meet with Trump and join the president on a visit to the Whirlpool Corp. plant in northwest Ohio. DeWine’s office said the 73-year-old governor had no symptoms and was returning to Columbus.
Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates responded to Trump’s comments by saying, “Joe Biden’s faith is at the core of who he is; he’s lived it with dignity his entire life, and it’s been a source of strength and comfort in times of extreme hardship.”
Bates also accused Trump of using a Bible “for his own cynical optics as he sought to tear our nation apart at a moment of crisis and pain,” a reference to when federal law enforcement officers drove protesters out of Lafayette Square shortly before a photo opportunity in which Trump held a Bible.
For Trump, the Ohio trip was kicking off a long weekend of fundraising that comes as Biden has chipped away at Trump’s financial advantage with the race entering its final three months.
The virus upended Trump’s plan to run on the back of a strong economy, and Biden has charged that the president has pushed to reopen states too soon in hopes of jump-starting the markets and lifting his standing in the polls. But several states have had to slow down the pace of their reopening, and officials are warily watching a rise in coronavirus cases in the Midwest, including Ohio.