Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will attack President Donald Trump’s “law and order” message about violent protests saying Trump has “renounced all ethical leadership in this country” because he encouraged violence rather than prevent it.
“This president has long lost all ethical leadership in this country,” Biden said in a speech-ready speech in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon.”He might like to say the words law and order to make him strong, but his inability to call his own followers to avoid acting as an armed defense force in this country shows how weak he is.”
Biden condemned violence Sunday at racial justice protests in Portland, as he has for months for the protests.
“The fatal violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable,” Biden said. “Shooting on the streets of one of the major American cities is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of any kind through anyone, left or right.”
The speech is a strong reaction to Trump’s statement as president of law and order for ordering federal officials to go to cities like Portland, where violent protests have been unleashed for months in reaction to police shootings by unarmed black men.
Trump warned Thursday in his speech at the Republican National Convention that Democrats should disband the police and pass laws to reduce enforcement.
“No one will be in Biden’s America,” said Trump, who has been backed by several police unions.
Biden has refused to dismantle the police, despite the protesters’ war cry, while advocating greater investment in police training.He and his crusade officials reported last week that Trump and his crusade were hoping to gain political advantages from the flood of clashes at the protests.
Biden will recommend that the common thread in the crises facing the country (the coronavirus pandemic, economic devastation, unwarranted police violence) is Trump.
“Does anyone think there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected?” Biden will ask in ready comments. “An outgoing president who makes things worse, doesn’t make them better. An outgoing president who sows chaos that order.”