Jump to content

Biden says Trump fans 'flames of white supremacy' as Democrats attack racism


webfact

Recommended Posts

Biden says Trump fans 'flames of white supremacy' as Democrats attack racism

By Tim Reid and Harriet McLeod

 

2019-08-08T013936Z_6_LYNXNPEF761ZD_RTROPTP_4_USA-ELECTION-BIDEN.JPG

2020 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Burlington, Iowa, U.S., August 7, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

 

LOS ANGELES/CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Wednesday accused Republican President Donald Trump of fuelling the white supremacy beliefs blamed for several U.S. mass shootings, as Trump visited two cities where 31 people were killed in rampages last weekend.

 

"In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation," Biden, the former vice president, said in a speech in Burlington, Iowa.

 

Another contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, took up the themes of white nationalism and gun violence in a speech at the historically black South Carolina church where white supremacist Dylann Roof shot dead nine people in 2015.

 

"These acts of hatred do not happen in a vacuum," Booker said at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. "They are harvested only once they have been planted."

 

The weekend's back-to-back mass shootings intensified criticism of what many say is incendiary rhetoric by Trump.

 

During a speech in Burlington, Iowa, former U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday said President Donald Trump 'fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation'. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

BROADCAST AND DIGITAL RESTRICTIONS~ **BROADCASTERS: NO USE. DIGITAL: NO USE AUSTRALIA BROADCASTERS. NO USE ABC, CNN, FOX, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO, BBC AMERICA, NBC, OR THEIR DIGITAL/MOBILE PLATFORMS.**~

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Wednesday accused Republican President Donald Trump of fueling the white supremacy blamed for several U.S. mass shootings, as Trump visited two cities hit by massacres last weekend.

"In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation," former Vice President Biden said in a speech in Burlington, Iowa, on Wednesday.

The president, who has insisted he is not a racist, said Americans must "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" in a speech to the nation on Monday.

On Saturday, a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso, a Texas city on the border with Mexico. Law enforcement agencies say he was driven by hatred for Hispanics, citing an online manifesto apparently written by the shooter that was rife with anti-immigrant hatred.

In the second mass shooting 13 hours later, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, fatally shot nine people, including his sister, before he was killed by police.

Trump's rhetoric, including calling Central Americans trying to enter the United States "an invasion," and his hard-line immigration policies have exposed him to condemnation since the El Paso shooting.

 

The president, who has insisted he is not a racist, said Americans must "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" in a speech on Monday.

 

On Saturday, a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso, a Texas city on the border with Mexico. Law enforcement agencies say the suspected gunman was driven by hatred for Hispanics, citing an online manifesto apparently written by the shooter that was rife with anti-immigrant hatred.

 

In the second mass shooting 13 hours later, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, fatally shot nine people, including his sister, before he was killed by police.

 

Trump's rhetoric, including calling Central Americans trying to enter the United States "an invasion," and his hard-line immigration policies have exposed him to renewed condemnation following the El Paso shooting.

 

"How far is it from Trump's saying this 'is an invasion' to the shooter in El Paso declaring 'his attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas?' Not far at all," Biden said in a fiery address.

 

Trump aides deny his rhetoric was a cause of the shootings. In his national address, the president proposed reforming mental health laws, working with social media to detect possible mass shooters and keeping guns away from people considered potentially violent. He stopped short of calling for major gun law reforms.

 

Trump visited El Paso and Dayton on Wednesday, where he was greeted by protesters.

 

Biden and Booker are among 24 candidates vying to become the nominee to take on Trump in the November 2020 election.

 

Most of the Democrats have called for stricter gun laws, including universal background checks for purchases and banning assault-style weapons.

 

Booker has also proposed requiring licenses to own firearms.

 

Biden invoked the rhetoric of previous presidents of both parties, including Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, who he said "opposed hate."

 

"We have a president who has aligned himself with the darkest forces in the nation," Biden said in Iowa. "We have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced a political strategy of hate, racism, and division."

 

In his remarks, Booker rejected the debate over whether Trump is a racist, saying that what really matters is how people intend to address the problem.

 

"If the answer to the question, 'Do racism and white supremacy exist?' is yes, then the real question isn't who is or isn't a racist - but who is and isn't doing something about it," he said.

 

(Reporting by Tim Reid and Harriet McLeod; additional reporting and writing by Joseph Ax; editing by Larry King, Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

 

reuters_logo.jpg

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-08
  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


1 hour ago, BobBKK said:

One was a Dem supporter. 

So what?

 

Are you saying that if you are a Democrat supporter and own guns that gives you the right to go out and kill people?

 

By inference are you saying that Republicans would never do that?

 

There are many millions of other in the USA who are Democrat supporters, yet they don't go out to kill innocent people.

  • Confused 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Clearly Nixon and his southern strategy, exploiting the white South's reaction to the civil rights bills. was of no significance whatsoever. Did you make a big leap in your study of American history, from the time of Jackson to Obama?

 

Yeah, the democrats did not like the republicans going down there and interfering with their jim crow laws and kkk.

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.









×
×
  • Create New...