Joe Biden is back — on television, at least.
After more than a week where he was forced to stay in his Wilmington, Delaware, home, struggling to break through media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the former vice president returned to the airwaves with a media blitz on Tuesday. Armed with a newly installed professional studio in his basement, Biden offered his opinions on President Trump’s response to the outbreak and discussed the challenges of being the likely Democratic presidential nominee while being unable to talk to voters in person.
Biden sought to present himself as offering a firm, reasonable alternative to Trump’s handling of the situation without being alarmist.
“If you notice on what I’ve been doing, I’ve not been criticizing the president, but I’ve been pointing out where there’s disagreement as to how to proceed,” Biden said on ABC’s The View Tuesday morning. “The coronavirus is not his fault, but the lack of speed with which to respond to it has to move much faster.”
In the afternoon, after Trump held a town hall on Fox News, Biden had harsher words.
“He should stop talking and start listening to the medical experts,” Biden said on CNN.
“The idea that he’s going to move in that direction, thinks that can be done by Easter? That would be a real resurrection if that could happen,” the practicing Catholic added on MSNBC.
In the interviews, Biden declined to call on his last remaining competitor, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to drop out of the race. He also said that there are four African American women he thinks that would make good Supreme Court justices and that he is considering 12 to 15 women who could be his vice presidential pick but that he has not spoken to any of them directly. He starts his days with two hour-and-a-half briefings on the coronavirus situation and the economy, he said.
At times, Biden seemed exasperated.
“Why doesn’t he just act like a president?” Biden said on MSNBC. After a pause, he added: “That’s a stupid way to say that.”
Reacting to Trump’s condemnation of discrimination against Asian Americans after days of criticism for calling coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” Biden said, “I just can’t figure the guy. I don’t know. It’s like watching a yo-yo.” Then he corrected himself again for making a harsh comment: “I shouldn’t have said it that way.”
The verbal stumble-prone 77-year-old did not escape the day without some strange moments.
When asked on The View to respond to Trump’s assertion that the United States cannot let the pandemic’s cure be worse than the problem itself, Biden offered a confusing response: “We have to take care of the cure. That will make the problem worse, no matter what. No matter what. We know what has to be done.”
CNN host Jake Tapper scolded Biden after the former vice president coughed into his hand.
“It’s kind of old school to do it with your hand,” Tapper said. “Do it into your elbow. You’re supposed to do it.”
“Fortunately, I’m alone in my home, but that’s OK. I agree. You’re right,” Biden said.
Biden tried to offer an optimistic, unifying view.
“I’ve never been more proud to be an American,” he said. “Ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their community, for their neighbors, for people down the street, for everyone out there. They’re scared, yet they’re united.”
