Joe Biden blasted President Trump for stoking hatred that is being blamed for the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
“Mr. President, it’s long past time you stood up to it, it’s long past time you addressed it for what it is: This is hatred, pure and simple, and it’s been fueled by rhetoric that is so divisive, and it’s causing people to die,” Biden, 76, told attendees Monday in San Diego, California, at the annual UnidosUS conference.
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The former vice president’s comments come after a shooter last week drove to the border city and killed at least 20 people when he opened fire in a Walmart store. His manifesto expressed hatred toward Hispanics.
The El Paso shooting was followed by an unrelated incident early Sunday morning in which nine people were killed with a gun in Dayton, Ohio.
“American people may be running out of tears, but I pray they’re not running out of will,” Biden said, calling for the limiting of assault-style weapons and the number of clips that can be used. “These escalating acts are not madness. They are driven by hate.”
The Biden campaign’s central theme is based on reclaiming “the soul of the nation” after white supremacists and counterprotesters clashed in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heather Heyer, 32, died in the unrest.
The former vice president earlier Monday tweeted that Trump used “the office of the presidency to encourage and embolden white supremacy.”
“You use words like ‘infestation’ and ‘invasion’ to talk about human beings. We won’t truly speak with one voice against hatred until your voice is no longer in the White House,” he wrote.
Let’s be very clear. You use the office of the presidency to encourage and embolden white supremacy. You use words like “infestation” and “invasion” to talk about human beings. We won’t truly speak with one voice against hatred until your voice is no longer in the White House. https://t.co/CW3wxxTm2E
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 5, 2019
Trump, during a White House address on Monday morning, denounced “racist hate.”
“The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America,” Trump said. “Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.”
Reading from notes, Biden told the crowd Monday he had intended to talk about immigration, global warming, and education. He didn’t get the opportunity either when asked questions by Janet Murguía, the president of UnidosUS, the country’s largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. Murguía grilled him on his healthcare plan and his bipartisan approach to politics.
“You can’t compromise on principle,” Biden said. “But you can compromise in order to get something done that significantly improves the status and concern of the issue you’re most concerned about.”
He added that attitude would help him clinch conservative-leaning states, rendering him one of the few Democratic presidential candidates capable of beating Trump next year.
Biden was joined at the forum by Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as Obama administration housing secretary Julián Castro.
