Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden accepts the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination during a speech delivered for the largely virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, August 20, 2020.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Democratic nominee Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump of “rooting for more violence” in cities where tensions during protests over police brutality and racism have boiled over.
“He views this as a political benefit to him,” Biden told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Thursday when asked about demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that sprang up following the police shooting of Jacob Blake over the weekend.
“He’s rooting for more violence, not less,” Biden said.
When pressed on the accusation, Biden quoted Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior advisor who is soon leaving that role, who said in a Fox News interview that “the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.”
The White House declined to comment on Biden’s remarks. The Trump campaign did not immediately provide comment.
Video footage of Sunday’s police shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, sparked another wave of outrage toward law enforcement. Protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, reportedly gave way to clashes between demonstrators and police.
Armed vigilante groups were also present at the demonstrations. One person was arrested Wednesday and is facing homicide charges after allegedly shooting three people, killing two, on Tuesday night, NBC News reported.
The interview with Biden, who accepted his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention last week, marked some of his most heated criticisms yet against Trump’s handling of the crisis of racial unrest that has gripped the nation since the death of George Floyd in May.
Trump and his supporters have focused intently on the violence throughout the Republican National Convention this week, lumping Democrats in with “anarchists” and “rioters” seen at some events. Trump will reportedly blast Biden as “extreme” when he delivers his keynote speech at the White House on Thursday night.
Biden laid blame for much of the strife squarely at the feet of the president, striking back at criticisms launched last night by Vice President Mike Pence, who said during his address at the Republican National Convention that Americans “won’t be safe” under a Biden administration.
“The problem we have now is, we’re in Donald Trump’s America,” Biden responded. He accused Trump of “pouring gasoline on the fire,” citing the president’s controversial 2017 remarks that there were “very fine people on both sides” of a protest in Charlottesville.
Biden on Wednesday condemned the violence in Kenosha, while expressing outrage over the video of Blake’s shooting.
“You know, as I said after George Floyd’s murder, protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary. But burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence,” Biden said in a video posted to social media.
Trump has called for the federal government to intervene in Kenosha to clamp down on the unrest but has not tweeted or commented publicly about Blake’s shooting.
