Former US vice president Joe Biden on Monday accused US President Donald Trump of abusing the powers of his office and ignoring everyone but his political base in his first public rally as a presidential candidate, arguing in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania that strengthening unions and promoting social and economic unity can restore Democrats to the White House.
The former vice president told hundreds of supporters and labor activists a deadly shooting at a California synagogue on Saturday proves anew that the country is “in a fight for its soul.”
However, he spent more time criticizing Trump for his political behavior than for the president’s past comments concerning white supremacists, unlike Biden’s video formally kicking off his presidential campaign last week.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“There’s only one thing that stands in our way. It’s our broken political system that’s deliberately being undermined by our president to continue to abuse the power of the office,” Biden said.
He called Trump “the only president who has decided not to represent the whole country. He has his base. We need a president who works for all Americans.”
Earlier in the day, Biden received the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and many in the crowd wore union T-shirts and carried signs supporting him.
They repeatedly interrupted him with cries of “We want Joe,” to which the candidate said: “I make no apologies. I am a union man,” to sustained applause.
Biden’s 40-minute speech swung from vows of union solidarity to broadsides against Trump, but lacked the sharp focus on the president that marked his campaign announcement video last week.
Instead, Biden on Monday returned to his familiar, folksy pitch to working-class voters and avoided the sweeping, liberal policy proposals embraced by much of the rest of the crowded Democratic field for next year’s election.
Biden promoted incremental steps to shrink college costs and expand healthcare access, unlike some rivals who have called for free or debt-free college and universal, government-run healthcare, paid for with significant tax increases.
“We can do all this without punishing anybody,” Biden said.
Biden was scheduled to continue his introductory campaign steps in the premier caucus state of Iowa yesterday and today.
Meanwhile, Trump stepped up his criticism of Biden and boasted on Twitter about his own strong support among union members before Biden offered his pro-union message in Pittsburgh.
Trump won Pennsylvania in surprising fashion in 2016, but Biden promised that his party would improve its standing by bringing the country together, not further dividing it.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters ballroom in Pittsburgh is in a gritty Pittsburgh warehouse neighborhood that is undergoing an economic revival. It was full well before the event started, and the line to get in stretched down the street.
Biden now leads national polls of Democratic preference for the party’s primary, and in Iowa, which votes first in the contest. He also raised more than any of his roughly 20 rivals in the first 24 hours of their official candidacies.
However, his age — 76 — could work against him as the party looks for new blood.
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