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| Joe Biden Rebukes Trump and Issues Virus Plan: ‘The Clock Is Ticking’ | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| WILMINGTON, Del. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday delivered a forceful rebuke of President Trump’s leadership amid the coronavirus crisis, seeking to project steadiness and resolve from his perch as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. | |
| Mr. Biden, the former vice president, spoke Thursday afternoon from the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del. — where he announced his 1972 bid for the Senate — about the challenges the country faces and his ideas for managing the outbreak. He aimed to draw sharp contrasts with Mr. Trump a day after the president addressed the nation from the Oval Office. | |
| “Unfortunately, this virus laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration,” Mr. Biden said. “Public fears are being compounded by pervasive lack of trust in this president fueled by adversarial relationship with the truth that he continues to have.” | |
| In his remarks, Mr. Biden offered his own plan for combating the virus, with proposals that included rapidly and vastly expanding testing, moving aggressively to boost hospital capacity, and supporting an accelerated push for a vaccine. | |
| “We are not ready yet, and the clock is ticking,” he warned. | |
| He also detailed ideas to help those who struggle financially at a time of economic peril. | |
| This moment of national anxiety, some of Mr. Biden’s allies believe, throws into sharp relief the choice Americans would face in a general-election matchup between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, and the stakes of that contest. Mr. Biden has been seeking to highlight the contrast in ways overt and subtle even as he continues a primary battle against Senator Bernie Sanders, who was also expected to deliver remarks on the coronavirus crisis and its economic effects later on Thursday. | |
| Mr. Biden’s appearance here came as his campaign underwent another shake-up, bringing on a new campaign manager as his team works to build out what has been an underfunded operation with major organizational challenges — despite a flurry of primary victories over the past two weeks. | |
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| Amid those successes, Mr. Biden — who has long sought to cast the race as a two-person contrast between himself and Mr. Trump — has leaned harder into that message. On Wednesday, Mr. Biden’s campaign announced the formation of a “Public Health Advisory Committee” studded with prominent health leaders and alumni of former President Barack Obama’s administration — a rollout that seemed intended to conjure the actions a president might take. Members included Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general; Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a prominent oncologist and a vice provost at the University of Pennsylvania; and Lisa Monaco, who served as a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Mr. Obama. | |
| Mr. Biden has previously sketched out other steps he would take as president to fight the virus, noting his work as vice president in combating Ebola and describing Obama administration priorities like bolstering funding to fight that disease. Ron Klain, who was Mr. Obama’s Ebola “czar,” is a top Biden adviser. | |
| Mr. Biden has also said that he would insist on transparency from China, where the coronavirus outbreak began, and has expressed shock and frustration with Mr. Trump’s past skeptical remarks about the severity of the virus. | Mr. Biden has also said that he would insist on transparency from China, where the coronavirus outbreak began, and has expressed shock and frustration with Mr. Trump’s past skeptical remarks about the severity of the virus. |
| “I wish he would just be quiet, I really mean it,” Mr. Biden said in an interview this week with Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC. “Just let the experts speak and acknowledge whatever they suggest to him is what we should be doing.” | |
| Mr. Trump’s somber address Wednesday night, in which he announced he was blocking most travel from continental Europe and promised new aid for workers and businesses, was a break from his previous efforts to play down the effects of the outbreak. But he also mischaracterized some of his administration’s new travel policies and described the threat as a “foreign virus,” though Americans are infected along with many in other countries. | Mr. Trump’s somber address Wednesday night, in which he announced he was blocking most travel from continental Europe and promised new aid for workers and businesses, was a break from his previous efforts to play down the effects of the outbreak. But he also mischaracterized some of his administration’s new travel policies and described the threat as a “foreign virus,” though Americans are infected along with many in other countries. |
| The Trump campaign quickly issued a response to Mr. Biden’s remarks on Thursday. “In times like this, America needs leadership and Biden has shown none,” said Tim Murtaugh, a campaign spokesman. “President Trump acted early and decisively and has put the United States on stronger footing than other nations. His every move has been aimed at keeping Americans safe, while Joe Biden has sought to capitalize politically and stoke citizens’ fears.” | |
| Even as Mr. Biden strives to project an image of leadership, he is still a candidate for the Democratic nomination who faces another debate and another round of primary elections in coming days, and his campaign has been scrambling to adjust to a presidential contest now unfolding amid a pandemic. | Even as Mr. Biden strives to project an image of leadership, he is still a candidate for the Democratic nomination who faces another debate and another round of primary elections in coming days, and his campaign has been scrambling to adjust to a presidential contest now unfolding amid a pandemic. |
| In one sign of the major adjustments the virus is forcing on the presidential race, Mr. Biden’s team on Wednesday announced that previously scheduled campaign events in Chicago and Miami would be transformed into “virtual events” ahead of next Tuesday’s primaries in Illinois, Florida and several other large, delegate-rich states. | |
| Still, surrogates are continuing to make the rounds in key upcoming contests, and volunteers may still be encouraged to head to states like Illinois and Georgia to help with activities like door-knocking, according to Dick Harpootlian, a South Carolina state senator and a Biden supporter who has been in touch with the campaign. | Still, surrogates are continuing to make the rounds in key upcoming contests, and volunteers may still be encouraged to head to states like Illinois and Georgia to help with activities like door-knocking, according to Dick Harpootlian, a South Carolina state senator and a Biden supporter who has been in touch with the campaign. |
| The remarks on Thursday were not the first time Mr. Biden has sought to assume the mantle of a sober, statesmanlike leader through a highly produced speech: In January, he delivered a sharp rebuke of Mr. Trump’s stewardship of tensions with Iran against a backdrop that appeared reminiscent of the White House briefing room. | |
| Yet that issue faded from the national forefront, and Mr. Biden went on to a fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses a few weeks later as he competed against what was, at the time, a crowded and competitive Democratic field. | Yet that issue faded from the national forefront, and Mr. Biden went on to a fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses a few weeks later as he competed against what was, at the time, a crowded and competitive Democratic field. |
| He entered this speech, however, having amassed a big delegate advantage, and facing just one Democratic opponent, Mr. Sanders. |