2020
ELECTIONS
‘They ain't buying it’: Biden dismisses Trump’s
law-and-order message
Biden spoke with Jacob Blake's family during his trip
to Wisconsin and later argued his unity approach is gaining traction with
voters.
By
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO and MATTHEW CHOI
09/03/2020
04:40 PM EDT
Updated:
09/03/2020 06:53 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/03/resilience-biden-jacob-blake-408488
Joe Biden,
on a visit Thursday to a city roiled by the police shooting of Jacob Blake,
scorned Donald Trump’s law-and-order approach and contended that his unity
message is resonating more with voters concerned about racial injustice.
Speaking at
Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., Biden again condemned the violence that
followed the shooting of Blake, while offering himself as a calming influence —
a “congenital optimist” bringing hope rather than playing to fears.
The former
vice president spoke with Blake and his family earlier in the day. Biden
alluded to a series of new battleground state polls to argue that Trump’s tough
talk on crime coming out of the GOP convention has been a flop with voters who
are sophisticated enough to see through his divisive campaign strategy to win
reelection.
“There’s a
lot of folks who thought that, well, the president’s made great strides with
his law and order (message) … that, boy, after his convention he really made
inroads,” Biden said, lowering his voice to a whisper as if he were sharing a
secret. “He hasn’t. Not at all."
"It
should give you a little bit of confidence in the American people. They ain't
buying it," Biden added of Trump's approach. "With all the millions
and millions and millions of dollars being spent, they are not buying it."
Biden’s
visit came two days after Trump toured the wreckage of the city in an upper
Midwestern battleground that has become a microcosm of the country’s deep
divisions. State and local officials had discouraged Trump from making the
trip, fearing it would sow further rifts. Trump did not meet with the Blake
family, saying he didn't want to sit through a meeting with the family’s
lawyers present.
Biden
recounted how he had met with Blake’s family earlier in the day and was struck
by their resilience following the police shooting that left Blake paralyzed
below the waist. Blake was shot several times in the back in front of his young
children. The unrest erupted amid a summer of uprisings against anti-Black
police violence and racism.
“What I
came away with was the overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism about the
kind of response they’re getting,” Biden said. Blake’s mother “said I’m praying
for Jacob, but I’m praying for the policeman as well. I’m praying that things
change.”
Biden added
that Blake was fighting to overcome the shooting and that he said “nothing was
going to defeat him.”
After the
meeting, Biden joined several members of the Kenosha community — from a fire
fighter to a small business owner to an alderman — at the church to hear about
their experiences through the unrest. The speakers also touched on racial
disparity that has existed in Kenosha long before the shooting, painting a
picture of a community in pain.
Biden spent
the majority of the community meeting listening and jotting down notes on his
various policies that he believes would address some of their questions. But in
his responses, he called himself a "congenital optimist" and pushed a
message of hope.
One of the
community members who spoke was Porsche Bennett, an organizer for Black Lives
Activists Kenosha. Bennett expressed dismay at the lack of progress she’d seen
in the city, in spite of positive rhetoric, and urged Biden to see a
distinction between rioters and protesters.
“In a
protest, our voice is heard,” she said. She expressed dismay at hearing empty
promises and hoped there would be substantive action to improve conditions for
her children.
Biden
expressed empathy for the frustration that could lead people to more disruptive
forms of unrest. He said he could never understand the feeling of wondering if
his child would come home simply because of the color of his skin.
“I can
intellectually understand. But I can’t feel it,” Biden said.
The Kenosha
trips followed a spate of polls showing Biden with a solid lead nationally despite
a barrage of attacks from Trump calling his opponent as weak and beholden to
leftist radicals. On Monday, Biden gave a speech in Pittsburgh decrying the
violence, looting and arson as the antithesis of peaceful protesting. He also
challenged Trump to condemn all violence, including the deadly shootings by a
supporter who faces murder charges after killing two protesters in Kenosha.
The week
has brought a slew of new polls assessing the impact.
Biden leads
Trump by 8 percentage points — 52 percent to 44 percent — among likely voters
in Pennsylvania, according to a Thursday survey conducted by Quinnipiac
University. That same poll shows Biden ahead by 3 points — 48 percent to 45
percent — in Florida, a lead that falls within the survey’s margin of error. On
Wednesday, new national surveys conducted by live interviewers showed fairly
consistent results: Biden, hovering around 50 percent, held leads of 7 to 10
percentage points in all four polls, while Trump was in the low 40s.
Speaking at
the church Thursday, Biden said the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was
a “wake-up call” not only for the country, but the world. It brought home the
reality of anti-Black violence in America and spurned a new drive throughout
the country to fight for racial justice, he said.
Biden cited
the high support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the mobilizations in
cities around the world. “The public is ready to do these things," Biden
said, referring to policy items intended to combat racial disparities. “I
promise you.”
“The
country is ready, and if they’re not, it doesn’t matter,” he added, turning
attention to ending centuries of racism and injustice. “There are certain
things worth losing over—and this is something worth losing over. But we're not
going to lose.”
The former
Delaware senator and vice president also spoke about his own experiences amid
the unrest that gripped Wilmington, Del., in the wake of Robert Kennedy and
Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassinations. He described the military personnel
stationed on street corners and the hopelessness looming over the racial
clashes of the era.
He also
contrasted that image with his vice presidency several decades later, serving
with the country's first Black president. Biden used the story to assert that
progress toward racial justice was possible. Biden listed a number of policy
initiatives he would launch to address racial disparity, from criminal justice
to education reform.
“I can't
guarantee everything will be solved in four years," Biden said. "But
I can tell you one thing: It'll be a whole heck of a lot better.”
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