President Trump attacked 2020 Democratic front-runner and former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday, telling voters at a Pennsylvania rally, “He left you for another state.”
Of the field vying for the Democratic nomination, Trump rebuked only Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., by name, but broadly dismissed Democrats as “low energy, but vicious,” and referred to South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg as the cartoon character Alfred E. Neuman.
“Don’t forget Biden deserted you. He’s not from Pennsylvania. I guess he was born here, but he left you, folks. He left you for another state. Remember this please,” Trump said in Montoursville, Pa.
A Quinnipiac University poll this month found Biden, a longtime Delaware senator, leading Trump by 11 percentage points in Pennsylvania. The state was one of three traditionally Democratic Rust Belt states that Trump won in 2016 after focusing on lost manufacturing jobs.
“This guy talks about, ‘I know Scranton, I know … .’ Well, I know the places better,” Trump said about Biden. “He left you for another state and he didn’t take care of you because he didn’t take care of your jobs. He let other countries come in and rip off America. That doesn’t happen anymore.”
Also at the rally, Trump ridiculed Sanders for sponsoring legislation that would bring a “government takeover” of the healthcare system, and referred to Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” highlighting his remarks about viewing China as a competitor.
“China is not a competitor? What they’ve done to us is indescribable economically,” Trump said. “We have saved America, we have ‘Made America Great Again,’ and we are going to ‘Keep America Great.'”
