Biden Speaks With Jacob Blake, Seeks Contrast With Trump
Joe Biden drew an explicit contrast with Donald Trump during his visit to Wisconsin on Thursday.
(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden drew an explicit contrast with President Donald Trump during his visit to Wisconsin on Thursday, speaking directly to Jacob Blake, a Black man shot by the police, and promising sweeping changes if he’s elected to root out racism in the U.S.
Biden and his wife, Jill, met with Blake’s family and their lawyers for about an hour immediately after landing in Milwaukee and later said the meeting included a 15-minute phone conversation with Jacob Blake, who is paralyzed but out of the intensive care unit after being shot seven times by a White police officer in Kenosha.
The shooting of Blake followed a number of police killings of African Americans, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, that have transformed conversations about race and reshaped the presidential campaign.
Trump has focused on the rioting and looting that have at times overshadowed the peaceful protesting, arguing Biden and Democrats have encouraged violence and presenting himself as the law-and-order candidate. Biden has condemned the violence unequivocally and has blamed Trump for what he describes as fomenting violence and dividing the nation.
Seeking to make the race a referendum on Trump’s leadership, Biden gathered community leaders at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha for a conversation on problems plaguing the Black community and detailed how his policies would help address the racial inequities they outlined in criminal justice, the economy, education and health care.
“I promise you, win or lose, I’m going to go down fighting, I’m going to go down fighting for racial equality, equity across the board,” Biden said. “This is something worth losing over but we’re not going to lose.”
Biden’s trip marked his first campaign visit to Wisconsin, a critical battleground state that Trump narrowly won in 2016. Biden has largely campaigned virtually since the coronavirus pandemic sidelined travel in March, with a few in-person events held near his Delaware home.
The former vice president, testing his message of uniting Americans, said he felt the country was at an “inflection point” and ready to make progress on racial justice.
“We’re finally at a point we’re going to address the original sin in this country – slavery and all is vestiges,” Biden said. “I can’t tell you everything will be solved in four years. But I can tell you one thing, it’s going to be a heck of a lot better.”
Biden also prayed for Blake’s recovery and said he was struck by his family’s work to bring peace to Kenosha but also to push for change.
“What I came away with was the overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism they have about the kind of response they’re getting,” Biden said.
Benjamin Crump, the Blakes’ lawyer, said the family appreciated an opportunity to meet with the Bidens.
“The family was grateful for the meeting and was very impressed that the Bidens were so engaged and willing to really listen,” Crump said in a statement.
Trump, who visited Kenosha on Tuesday over the objections of Democratic leaders in the state, did not meet with Blake’s family and focused his visit on condemning the violence and looting that broke out amid the protests.
During his trip, Trump toured damaged properties and met with police leaders about ways to stop the violence. The president sidestepped any discussion of the underlying issues of the protests, refusing to address police brutality or racism in the country.
“Reckless far-left politicians continue to push the destructive message that our nation and law enforcement are oppressive or racist,” Trump said. “They’ll throw out any word that comes to them. Actually, we should show far greater support for our law enforcement.”
Trump has falsely claimed that Biden supports defunding the police and devoted much of his speech to the Republican National Convention last week to casting Biden’s candidacy as a threat to American prosperity.
Biden has repeatedly dismissed Trump’s characterization of his position, explaining he wants to give police more resources.
“Regardless of how angry you are, if you loot or you burn you ought to be held accountable,” he said Thursday. “Period. It just cannot be tolerated, across the board.”
Asked as he was about to board a plane back to Delaware if his visit to Kenosha had gone better than Trump’s, Biden said, “I don’t know it was better or worse but I felt good about it. I think we brought people together and I felt good about it.”
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