Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Trumps terms Biden's acceptance speech 'just words'

August 21, 2020 13:40 IST

United States President Donald Trump reacted to his Democratic rival Joe Biden's acceptance speech with a subdued and succinct tweet, terming the former vice president's address as "just words".

IMAGE: US President Donald J Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. President Trump is campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania near the hometown of former US Vice President Joe Biden, hours before Biden accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination on the last day of the Democratic National Convention. Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

On the final day of the four-day virtual Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, Biden, 77, officially accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.

"In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will never change, just words!" Trump tweeted his first reaction to Biden's acceptance speech on Thursday.

 

This was in sharp contrast to a barrage of all-caps tweets the president fired as former president Barack Obama and Indian-origin Senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris spoke on Wednesday.

"HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!" Trump said in an all-cap tweet about Obama.

Trump continued with his tweets as Harris delivered her acceptance speech.

"BUT DIDN'T SHE CALL HIM A RACIST??? DIDN'T SHE SAY HE WAS INCOMPETENT???" the US president said, referring to the criticism by Harris of Biden during the primaries.

Trump and Biden face each other in the November presidential elections. Trump is seeking his re-election from the Republican Party and Biden is the rival Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

In another statement, Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director, said that by accepting his party's nomination, Biden has formally become a pawn of the radical leftists.

"His name is on the campaign logo, but the ideas come from the socialist extremists. Biden supports raising taxes by USD 4 trillion and forcing a government takeover of healthcare that will lead to the elimination of your employer-provided health insurance," he said.

"He would kill 10 million energy jobs with the Green New Deal and bow to anti-police activists in cutting funding for law enforcement. He will sacrifice public safety and jobs for Americans by granting amnesty, taxpayer-funded healthcare, and work permits to 11 million illegal aliens. Joe Biden is a twice-failed candidate for president and is, without question, a far worse candidate the third time around," Murtaugh said.

In an interview to Fox News, US President Trump earlier said that he will watch Biden's speech.

Trump will deliver his acceptance speech as the Republican Party's presidential nominee next week. He has said that he will deliver the speech live.

"It's Biden. I don't think Biden knows what it even represents, but Bernie and everybody else -- and Biden has totally accepted it -- they're anti-fracking. They're anti-everything. They're anti-fossil fuel. Our nation would go into a massive depression if that ever happened. And when you talk about Pennsylvania and Ohio and Texas, by the way, and Oklahoma, they're anti-fracking. They don't want to do any fracking," Trump said.

Earlier in the day, Trump travelled to Old Forge city in Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Biden, and said that if Biden is elected as the next US president, it will be the worst nightmare.

"Joe Biden is no friend of Pennsylvania. He's actually, for the reasons we just said, he's your worst nightmare. Biden supported every single globalist attack on Pennsylvania workers. NAFTA, China's entry into the World Trade Organization, which built China into a power. TPP, Korea, the Horrible, ridiculous Paris Climate Accord," he said.

Trump claimed that Biden was a puppet of the radical-left movement that seeks to destroy the American way of life.

"They don't understand and probably when it happened they would say what did we ever do. Joe Biden has pledged to hike your taxes by USD4 trillion in the largest tax hike in history and they are going to waste the money on the green new deal, green new deal. You know what you get out of that? Nothing, nothing except debt and death," he said.

"They want to eviscerate the Second Amendment, they want to take away your guns, they want to take away your guns. Well, you remember that just that one point alone and they want to take away your guns. So who's going to vote for that? I mean we want our Second Amendment. I have held it strong and you think it was easy? I have held it totally strong," Trump said.

Lalit K Jha
© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.