Published 11:54 IST, September 3rd 2020
Joe Biden shifts campaign focus to COVID-19 pandemic while Trump dwells on protests
Democratic nominee Joe Biden, on September 2, shifted his campaign focus back to coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, on September 2, shifted his campaign focus back to coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic. While Trump’s campaign theme revolves around ‘law and order’ due to the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Biden’s Wednesday’s campaign event focused on his efforts to make the upcoming election in part of a referendum on the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak. Biden also talked about the millions of students, who are starting a new school year either virtually or under restrictive conditions.
While speaking at his Wilmington, Delaware campaign, Biden reportedly said that if President Trump and his administration had done their jobs early on this crisis, American schools would be open, and that too safely.
Both the leaders, who will be facing each other on November 3, have repeatedly offered duelling arguments over which candidate can keep the country safe. Both of them have accused each other of fostering the sometimes violent protests over racial injustice and police brutality that have rocked the nation for months after African-American man George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody.
Biden accuses Trump of ‘turning his back’
While speaking at the campaign rally on Wednesday, Biden again accused Trump of turning his back to instead stoke passions about unrest in American cities. He also went on to attack Trump for his vilifying of protesters as well as his handling of the pandemic that has killed nearly 190,000 Americans.
The (Dem) presidential nominee said that the virus has crippled the national economy and has left millions of its citizens out of work, with schools trying to deal with students in classrooms or at home and parents struggling to keep up. Biden said that Trump should be able to lead through multiple crises at the same time and further asked, “Where is the President? Why isn’t he working on this?”
Biden further said that he will use an existing federal disaster law to direct funding to schools to help them reopen safely amid the pandemic. He urged President Trump to 'get off Twitter' and 'negotiate a deal' with Congress on more pandemic aid. He reiterated his statements that a full economic recovery isn't possible with COVID-19 still raging, and that reopening schools safely is a necessary part of both limiting the virus' spread and allowing parents to return to work.
(Image: PTI)
Updated 11:54 IST, September 3rd 2020