With President Donald Trump still flying from Dayton, Ohio, to El Paso, Texas, in the wake of weekend mass shootings in the two cities, former Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the president was encouraging white supremacy and violence with his divisive rhetoric.
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Add Joe Biden as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Joe Biden news, video, and analysis from ABC News.Biden's comments came in a forceful speech on the campaign trail in Iowa.
"How far is it from Trump saying this is an invasion to the shooter in El Paso declaring, quote, 'this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas?' How far apart are those comments," Biden asked rhetorically. "I don't think it's that far at all. It's both clear language and in code. This president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation."
"His low energy, vacant-eyed mouthing of the words written for him condemning white supremacists this week, I don't believe fooled anyone, at home or abroad," he said.
Biden’s remarks came the same day that President Trump was visiting the two cities where the shootings happened to meet with first responders, law enforcement, and some of the wounded and the victims' families. The president, while aboard Air Force One, tweeted that he was watching "Sleepy Joe's" speech as it was carried live on cable news networks, calling it "Sooo Boring!"
Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring! The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy. It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2019
Asked about Trump’s tweet after his speech, Biden said, “He should get a life.”
Biden has been critical of the president in the days following the tragedies in El Paso and Dayton but his remarks Wednesday are his strongest comments yet tying the president to white supremacy and violence.
"The words of a president matter. They can move markets. They can send our brave women and men to war. They can bring peace. They can calm a nation in turmoil," he said. "They can encourage us to appeal to our better angels, to our better nature, but they can also unleash the deepest, darkest forces in this nation. And that's what I believe Donald Trump has chosen to do."
"We have a problem with this rising tide of supremacy, white supremacy in America, and we have a president who encourages and emboldens it," he added.