Joe Biden failed to deliver a key line of his stump speech during a much-hyped fundraiser with former primary rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
“Folks, as my coach used to say, ‘It’s go to time.’ It’s go time. Now,” the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee told grassroots donors on Friday, correcting his error.
Just 94 days before Election Day, the two-term vice president and 36-year U.S. senator, started the virtual event by thanking roughly 40,000 participants for helping him raise $1.5 million before July’s fundraising deadline.
Biden called on his supporters to get out the vote by Nov. 3, so together, Democrats could “redeem” the soul of the nation. That’s a twist on his campaign slogan, “restore the soul of the nation.”
He essentially said to donors, “I told you so” after foreshadowing President Trump, his general election opponent, could “try to kick back” their contest somehow. Trump this week floated the possibility of postponing their fall clash.
“Remember, this president went so far to say what I warned he would say four months ago: He thinks maybe we should delay the election,” Biden said. “Be prepared. Be prepared. It’s going to be a tough road.”
Biden also slammed Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, describing Dr. Stella Immanuel as “some charlatan woman, who is something like out of a movie, a bad movie.”
Immanuel earned Trump’s favor for touting hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, as a cure for the coronavirus. But after the video of her advocacy for hydroxychloroquine went viral, social media platforms removed it for being in violation of their misinformation polices. Immanuel was also widely mocked after it was reported that she once claimed that alien DNA is included in medicines and that gynecological problems can be caused by people having sex with demons in their dreams.
Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, joined Biden for the question-and-answer portion of the gathering. Referring to her ex-competitor deferentially as “Mr. Vice President,” she promised she’d “be right there with” him for the rest of the cycle.
Her appearance coincides with Biden’s vice presidential search entering its final stage. He’s set to announce his pick in the first week of August, and Warren remains on his rumored shortlist, with the pair speaking every 10 days or so.
Biden’s other running mate contenders are California Rep. Karen Bass, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and former Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice.
