Biden to lay out vision for post-Trump America as he accepts Democratic nomination

[webfact]

Biden to lay out vision for post-Trump America as he accepts Democratic nomination

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Joseph Ax

 

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) is joined on stage by her running-mate, U.S Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, after she accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination during an acceptance speech delivered for the largely virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., August 19, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Joe Biden will outline his plans to bring relief and solace to a country battered by the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday when he accepts the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 U.S. election.

 

The fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention is a high point of a half-century in the public eye for the former U.S. senator and vice president, who fared poorly in two previous runs for the White House in 1988 and 2008.

 

His remarks will conclude a nominating convention that was held virtually because of the pandemic, with the party's biggest names, rising stars and even prominent Republicans lining up via video to support Biden and attest to the urgency of ending Trump's tumultuous presidency.

 

As they have throughout the week, Democrats emphasized the importance of voting amid the pandemic and warned against efforts to suppress the vote. Trump's repeated, unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud, coupled with cuts to the U.S. Postal Service, have fueled fears that some voters may be disenfranchised.

 

"Voting is the oxygen of our democracy," California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said via video with 75 days to go until Election Day.

 

Several Democrats who challenged Biden for the nomination - U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker; former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang - praised Biden's empathy and leadership in a taped conversation.

 

Another former rival, billionaire and former Republican Michael Bloomberg, said Trump had failed both as a businessman and as a president.

 

"I'm not asking you to vote against Donald Trump because he's a bad guy. I'm urging you to vote against him because he's done a bad job," said Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City.

 

"And let me tell you a little secret. Donald Trump's economic plan was to give a huge tax cut to guys like me, who didn't need it. And then lie about it to everyone else," he said.

 

'AMERICAN CARNAGE'

The program offered some light-hearted moments from its moderator, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who portrayed a U.S. vice president in the comedy television show "Veep," and took some digs at both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

 

"When Donald Trump spoke at his inauguration about 'American carnage,' I assumed that was something he was against, not a campaign promise," she said.

 

The day offered new fodder for the Biden campaign to highlight what convention speaker after speaker has characterized as Trump's chaotic four years in office.

 

Steve Bannon, an architect of Trump's 2016 election victory, was arrested on fraud charges, while in New York a judge ruled Trump cannot block a prosecutor's subpoena for eight years of his tax returns.

 

Trump on Thursday denied knowing about the organization linked to Bannon's arrest, which had sought donations to help build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that was Trump's signature 2016 campaign promise.

 

"I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time," Trump said. He also appealed the decision on his tax returns.

 

On Wednesday, Kamala Harris accepted the nomination as the first Black woman and Asian American on a major-party presidential ticket. The evening drew an estimated 22.8 million television viewers, higher than the first two nights but still down from 2016.

 

That figure does not include viewing on digital platforms, which has jumped significantly since 2016.

 

BACKED BY FORMER SECURITY OFFICIALS

Biden, 77, heads into the general election campaign leading in opinion polls over Trump, 74, who will accept the Republican nomination for a second White House term at his own convention next week.

 

Democrats have worked to expand Biden's support during the convention, including showcasing prominent Republican supporters as well as Americans who voted for Trump in 2016 but now blame him for the economic and health toll of the pandemic.

 

More than 70 Republican former national security officials, including former heads of the FBI and CIA, plan to endorse Biden on Friday while calling Trump unfit to serve.

 

The acceptance speech will give Biden his biggest audience since he was largely sidelined from the campaign trail by the pandemic in March.

 

He will speak directly to camera in a mostly empty event center in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, rather than in front of a roaring crowd of convention delegates.

 

U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a close Biden ally, said he expected the speech to focus on unity, not Trump.

 

Trump has campaigned across the country to offer counter-programming to the Democrats, a break with tradition in which candidates limit their activities during their opponents' conventions.

 

The president held a campaign event on Thursday near Biden's birthplace of Scranton in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he slammed his Democratic challenger's long record in government.

 

Biden, who became a U.S. senator from Delaware in 1973 before becoming Obama's vice president, captured the nomination by convincing Democratic primary voters he was the best bet to beat Trump.

 

Despite questions about his age and criticism of his moderate stances in a party that has lurched leftward, he was able to quickly unite the Democrats' sometimes fractious progressive and moderate wings with the goal of defeating Trump.

 

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Wilmington, Delaware, and Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and John Whitesides in Washington and Michael Martina in Detroit; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-21

 

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[2 is 1]

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

"And let me tell you a little secret. Donald Trump's economic plan was to give a huge tax cut to guys like me, who didn't need it. And then lie about it to everyone else," he said.

To me,to you,to me,to you,to me,to you........ Nobody else! Hmmmm.... wall money... to you Bannon!

[mtls2005]

Very, very, very impressive speech. Well done.

 

Contrast that to trump's rage tweeting during this address.

 

 

[Tug]

He and his TEAM are just the ticket to get the ship of state back on course hopefully we will have control of both houses so meaningful legislation can be passed and I hope some bright folks are figuring out a way of protecting our democracy in the post trump era what a speech!

Edited August 21, 2020 by Tug

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Very, very, very impressive speech. Well done.

 

Contrast that to trump's rage tweeting during this address.

 

 

A passionate and impressive acceptance speech. Leave the GOP in a bind. If Trump read from the telepromter, we can be sure of a tortured medicated low energy speech. If he is allowed to speak freely, it will be a disastrous lies laden and incoherent. Perhaps he should taped his speech.    

[Jingthing]

The best speech Biden has ever made. Now that's how a president should be. For all the people not only her fans. 

 

If he doesn't overcome the guaranteed dirty tricks of loser 45 we can write off American democracy as done and dusted. 

[bendejo]

Great idea having Julia Louis-Dreyfus as host.  A little bit of humor helps.

 

 

[mtls2005]

5 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Great idea having Julia Louis-Dreyfus as host.  A little bit of humor helps.

 

Looking forward to Scott Baio as a host next week at the RNC.

 

Maybe a dash of Kid Rock, Diamond & Silk, (can Kanye partiticpate if he is a 'candidate'?), Ted Nugent, Antonio Sabato Jr., Dean Cain, the St. Louis gun-nuts. A-listers no doubt.

 

Who doesn't love a train-wreck?

 

 

 

 

[pegman]

So much for the Trump narrative that old Joe couldn't put a sentence together. Expect a nice poll bounce from tonite's performance. Unless buddy Putin can pull off a  miracle things don't look too good for Trump. Might be best for Joe to have someone taste his food  and drink before consuming it up to election day.

[Jingthing]

23 minutes ago, pegman said:

So much for the Trump narrative that old Joe couldn't put a sentence together. Expect a nice poll bounce from tonite's performance. Unless buddy Putin can pull off a  miracle things don't look too good for Trump. Might be best for Joe to have someone taste his food  and drink before consuming it up to election day.

I don't expect much of a bounce. People are mostly locked in. The thing is to hold on to his lead and resist the 45 steal the election dirty tricks. 

[Tagged]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

I don't expect much of a bounce. People are mostly locked in. The thing is to hold on to his lead and resist the 45 steal the election dirty tricks. 

Even Fox News put their guard down after toonights speach by Biden

 

"Biden promises a healing presence in speech praised by left and right"

 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-promises-a-healing-presence-in-speech-praised-by-left-and-right

[melvinmelvin]

 

Good to see that Dems can do more than talk sh*t about Trump, that has become somewhat tiring . . . .

 

Look ahead, stake out the course for the US, that is the way. Well done.

 

[Tagged]

Trumps 10 statements against Biden And why vote for him instead. 

 

Biden cooperate with Extreme left and  Plans To:

1. Raise your taxes.

2. Eliminate your job.

3. Destroy the Constitution.

4. Take away your guns.

5. Encourage illegal aliens to flood our country.

6. Support burning, looting and mayhem in our cities.

7. Destroy the stock market and economy, and everyone's 401K plan.

8. Make reparations to black people. 

9. Make reparations to China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. 

10. Continue their assault on the lives of unborn children.

[Eric Loh]

5 minutes ago, Tagged said:

Even Fox News put their guard down after toonights speach by Biden

 

"Biden promises a healing presence in speech praised by left and right"

 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-promises-a-healing-presence-in-speech-praised-by-left-and-right

Even Trump is subdued in his tweets. No full caps name calling conspiracy filled tweets. Perhaps he is resigning to his fate. 

[Tagged]

2 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Even Trump is subdued in his tweets. No full caps name calling conspiracy filled tweets. Perhaps he is resigning to his fate. 

Maybe he miss playing golf? 

 

I think he realize it is going one way with the economic, and he can not save it! Better to let det democrats take the blaim again, as useal, and he managed to take the claim for jobs and economic sky rockteting after taking over the office. Useally it take a bit mor than one term to fix things, ? 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Tagged

[Boon Mee]

Wait until Biden attempts to debate Trump live. 

Sleepy Joe will get decimated. 

[mtls2005]

42 minutes ago, Tagged said:

Useally it take a bit mor than one term to fix things, ? 

 

Yep. 

 

Especially when you screw things up so massively in your first term. Be nice if you could resurrect all the dead people of course.

 

"Some people are saying my adminstration is best dumpster fire EVER!!!!"

[stevenl]

25 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Wait until Biden attempts to debate Trump live. 

Sleepy Joe will get decimated. 

Maybe Biden will get decimated, but for the moment Biden looks like the sharpest of the 2, who has his facts straight, who is not disparaging his opponent, who is coherent and able to logically execute a speech.

[Tagged]

34 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Wait until Biden attempts to debate Trump live. 

Sleepy Joe will get decimated. 

I also want to see that, but doubt Trump will win any debate against him this time. He have nothing else than 12 points he will repeat to the dead end. No surprises will come from his side, and who is going to win the election for him this time? 

[Morch]

I didn't think it was such a great speech. Good, yes, but not great. But, against the background of what we have been dished these last few years, it does stand out as balanced, sane, and maybe even cautiously promising. It was also nice to have a speech without numerous rambling anecdotes, irrelevancies and them blatant "inaccuracies" hallmarking Trump's public addresses.

 

So over all, a success, regardless of the bar's current level.

[rcummings]

3 minutes ago, Morch said:

I didn't think it was such a great speech. Good, yes, but not great. But, against the background of what we have been dished these last few years, it does stand out as balanced, sane, and maybe even cautiously promising. It was also nice to have a speech without numerous rambling anecdotes, irrelevancies and them blatant "inaccuracies" hallmarking Trump's public addresses.

 

So over all, a success, regardless of the bar's current level.

Of course, one of the reasons it's been praised so highly is that thanks to Trump and his fellow-travelers, expectations were so low. Looks like that senile-dementia meme, and not Biden, is past its expiry date.

Edited August 21, 2020 by rcummings

[Morch]

1 minute ago, rcummings said:

Of course, one of the reasons it's been praised so highly is that thanks to Trump and his fellow-travelers, expectations were so low. Looks like that senile-dementia meme, and not Biden, is past its due date.

 

Oh, I doubt that meme will be given a rest, facts and reality not being such hurdles for campaign talking points. The second Biden slips it will be out in no time.

 

Wondering what Trump's nomination acceptance speech (assuming he makes one) would be like. 

[Rimmer]

A post has been removed, please understand this is a discussion forum not a copy and paste my favorite meme forum, thank you

[Chomper Higgot]

4 minutes ago, Morch said:

Wondering what Trump's nomination acceptance speech (assuming he makes one) would be like. 

I don’t think he’ll mention that ‘Wall’ thang, this time around.

[Sujo]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I don’t think he’ll mention that ‘Wall’ thang, this time around.

Would be also stupid to mention the swamp considering his batting average.

[Morch]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I don’t think he’ll mention that ‘Wall’ thang, this time around.

 

That would be the rational, reasonable thing to do. But if that speech is targeting "the base", doesn't really matter what he's on about, as long as it can be sorted into short catchy slogans, or blamed on the Dems. The Wall could make an appearance, as in the Evil Democrats wouldn't let me build it for you...

[Morch]

2 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Would be also stupid to mention the swamp considering his batting average.

 

Same comment as above. Read Trump supporters posts here. Some of them still argue that he tried or tries to fight the swamp.

[rcummings]

20 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Oh, I doubt that meme will be given a rest, facts and reality not being such hurdles for campaign talking points. The second Biden slips it will be out in no time.

 

Wondering what Trump's nomination acceptance speech (assuming he makes one) would be like. 

Most likely, you're right. But it does seem to have flummoxed the usual denigrators, if only briefly.

[chilli42]

He seems a nice but sometimes creepy old man.  Pity he losing his marbles as he seemed OK 5 or so years ago.  I wonder who is writing this vision for him, clearly he is not.

[Sujo]

4 minutes ago, chilli42 said:

He seems a nice but sometimes creepy old man.  Pity he losing his marbles as he seemed OK 5 or so years ago.  I wonder who is writing this vision for him, clearly he is not.

They all have speech writers. At least biden tends to read it before the speech. Trump obviously doesnt. Thighland and yo semite.