Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivered a fiery speech against Donald Trump at a Friday rally in Iowa, which is considered a battleground state in the presidential race. Biden hammered Trump for his failures to meaningfully and effectively respond to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic nominee insisted that Trump “panicked” and left the American people to face the consequences, including economic chaos and rising levels of sickness and death across the country. Biden’s team has zeroed in on the Coronavirus crisis, while Trump has, as Biden noted, waved a metaphorical white flag of defeat. While Americans have been suffering and dying, Trump has been whining about the media coverage that the Coronavirus has gotten.
After recounting some of the recent spikes in Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations around the country and right there in Iowa, Biden said the following on Friday:
‘Millions of people are out of work, on the edge, and they can’t see the light — it just looks dark right now for them. 82,000 Iowa jobs lost in this pandemic, and still, they’ve not come back. 70,000 jobs lost in Iowa since Donald Trump became president. Here at the fairgrounds of the Iowa State Fair — canceled for the first time since World War II. And Trump has given up. The White House chief of staff said it out loud last week. He said: “We’re not going to control the pandemic.”.. In the debate last week with Donald Trump, he said we’re rounding the corner… Remember what I told him. We’re not learning to live with it. We’re having to learn to die with it! Because of you!’
Watch Biden’s comments below:
Biden in Des Moines: "70,000 jobs lost in Iowa since Trump became POTUS. Here at the fairgrounds of the Iowa State Fair, canceled for the first time since World War 2. And Trump has given up. The WH chief of staff said out loud last week, 'we're not gonna control the pandemic.'" pic.twitter.com/hZRkWAATuu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 30, 2020
As Biden mentions, Trump has tried to dismiss concern about the Coronavirus. No matter the mounting death toll, Trump — as if he has totally disconnected himself from the actual reality that’s unfolding around him — has insisted that media outlets are hyping up the virus just to make him look bad. This claim is dangerous nonsense. Over 225,000 Americans are dead, and the so-called president who is supposed to be leading the country consistently sounds more focused on complaining about television on Twitter than he is with dealing with the crisis that has claimed so many lives.
As of Friday afternoon, Biden leads in Iowa polls by an average of 0.3 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight — in other words, the race could really go either way at this point. Iowa only has 6 electoral votes, but the fact that Biden is so close to a potential Iowa victory is a fitting symbol of the mounting national opposition to Donald Trump. In 2016, Trump won in Iowa by a little over 9 percent.
