PITTSBURGH — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden posed a question to the American people during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh on Monday: "Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?"

That was the theme of Biden's speech as he hit the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, marking his first major events since the Democratic National Convention and one of his first in-person campaign events since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden made a campaign stop in Pittsburgh to address violence at protests across the country

  • This was one of Biden's first major in-person campaign events since the Coronavirus pandemic began

  • Former VP Biden accused President Trump of "stoking violence in our cities"

  • President Trump responded to Biden's claims on Twitter and will speak from the White House later Monday

 

 

Declaring President Trump a “toxic presence,” Joe Biden vociferously condemned the violence at recent protests across the country, while admonishing the president for his role in causing the divide that’s sparking it.

“He doesn’t want to shed light, he wants to generate heat, and he’s stoking violence in our cities,” Biden said Monday. “He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.”

The former Vice President teased the theme his speech with a series of tweets where he blasted President Trump’s leadership during his first term in office.

“We are facing so many crises under Donald Trump: COVID. Economic devastation. Unwarranted police violence. Emboldened white nationalists. A reckoning on race. Declining faith in a bright American future,” Biden wrote in one tweet. “The common thread? A president who makes things worse — not better.”

“Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Biden wrote in another tweet. 

Safety was one of Biden’s main talking points during his Monday address. The former Vice President took a strong stance against riots, saying he condemns any violent protests and called for peaceful demonstrations. 

“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting, it’s lawlessness plain and simple and those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden said. 

He added that no one has more to gain from violence than Donald Trump, who he said has long fanned the flames of division across the country. 

“Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames rather than fighting the flames,” Biden said. “But we must not burn, we have to build. This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country. He can't stop the violence because for years he's fomented it. 

“He may believe mouthing the words ‘law and order’ makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is,” Biden continued. “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?”

The statement could have been in reference to President Trump’s failure to denounce alt-right groups and their followers who have incited violence at various protests.

Over the weekend, the President liked a thread of tweets that read, “Why Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Donald Trump.” Rittenhouse is a 17-year-old charged in the fatal shooting of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Biden then delineated his own plan for fighting systemic racism and decreasing violence, saying Donald Trump has never had such a plan. The 77-year-old said he plans on bringing Black Lives Matter protesters and police officers to the table to discuss potential solutions. 

Biden also slammed Trump’s claims that he wants to defund police departments, a claim Biden has continuously denied. 

“You know me, you know my heart, you know my story, my family story. Ask yourself, do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for riots? Really? I want a safe America,” Biden said. “Safe from Covid, safe from crime and looting, safe from racially-motivated violence, safe from bad cops.Let me be crystal clear: Safe from four more years of Donald Trump.” 

Biden concluded by saying since President Trump cannot run on his record, he is centering his campaign around fear. 

“Donald Trump is determined to instill fear in America. That's what his entire campaign for the president has come down to,” Biden said. 

“This is a sitting president of the United States, he's supposed to be protecting America, but instead he is rooting for chaos and violence. The simple truth is Donald Trump failed to protect America so now he is trying to scare America,” he added. 

The speech marked a new phase of the campaign as Biden steps up his travel after largely remaining near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

After centering his candidacy on Trump's mishandling of the pandemic, Biden is making a broader push to argue that Americans won't be safe if he wins reelection. That's an effort to blunt Trump's “law and order” message, which the president is emphasizing as some protests against racial injustice have become violent.

Soon after Biden finished his speech, President Trump responded to his claims on Twitter.

 

“Just watched what Biden had to say,” the President tweeted. “To me, he’s blaming the Police far more than he’s blaming the Rioters, Anarchists, Agitators, and Looters, which he could never blame or he would lose the Radical Left Bernie supports!”

President Trump is set speak from the White House later Monday.