HERMANTOWN, Minnesota — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden targeted the wealthy after touring a union training center in northern Minnesota, leaning into his working-class roots during his second interstate campaign trip of the week.
“Billionaires in America during this pandemic made another $300 billion. Do you hear what I just said?” Biden asked Friday during an address at the Jerry Alander Carpenter Training Center in Hermantown, outside Duluth, Minnesota.
The former two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator added, “That’s been the entire story of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Biden told the audience he had “a chip” on his shoulder regarding “the guys who thought they were better than me, better than us because they had more money.” He criticized Trump for his preoccupation with the stock market, repeating a line he debuted Thursday night during a CNN town hall that he saw the Nov. 3 general election as a contest between Scranton, his hometown, and Park Avenue in Trump’s native New York City.
He also reiterated a complaint he made to CNN that the media had fixated on the fact that he didn’t have an Ivy League degree.
“Let me tell you something. I know how to do the job of being president,” he said. “It’s pretty clear. No matter how wealthy Donald Trump is, no matter how much he doctors his — if he does — his tax returns, he doesn’t have a clue how to be president.”
Biden described the Iron Range as a “magnificent part of the world” as his supporters and those backing Trump tried to outshout each other from opposite sides of the road outside the venue. The region has become increasingly conservative as he and Trump compete for Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes. Trump lost the state to Hillary Clinton by 1.5 percentage points.
Biden was introduced by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, his former rival for the party’s presidential nomination. Klobuchar weaved some of her family’s personal narrative into her opening remarks, including the part of her stump speech in which she reminded voters she is the granddaughter of an iron ore miner.
Biden’s Minnesota visit comes after he flew to Florida on Tuesday amid growing scrutiny of his light campaign schedule with less than two months to go before Election Day.
