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| Joe Biden Rebukes Trump and Issues Virus Plan: ‘The Clock Is Ticking’ | Joe Biden Rebukes Trump and Issues Virus Plan: ‘The Clock Is Ticking’ |
| (32 minutes 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. | 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., 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, establishing a preview of what Mr. Biden hopes will be a general election matchup. | |
| “Unfortunately, this virus laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration,” Mr. Biden said, speaking from the hotel at which he announced his 1972 bid for the Senate. “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 — and tests, he said, should be available at no charge — moving aggressively to boost hospital capacity, and supporting an accelerated push for a vaccine, “again, free of charge.” | |
| “We are not ready yet, and the clock is ticking,” he warned. | “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. | 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 also delivered remarks on the coronavirus crisis and its economic effects 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. | 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. |
| Amid those successes, Mr. Biden — who began his campaign seeking to cast the race as a two-person contest between himself and Mr. Trump — has leaned harder into that message. On Wednesday, his team 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. And when he spoke on Thursday, he did so against a backdrop of American flags, reading from teleprompters to the click of cameras and beginning with a nod to his “fellow Americans,” a setting reminiscent of a White House address. | |
| Get an informed guide to the global outbreak with our daily coronavirus | Get an informed guide to the global outbreak with our daily coronavirus |
| newsletter. | newsletter. |
| “No president can promise to prevent future outbreaks,” he said. “But I can promise you this. When I’m president, we will be better prepared, respond better and recover better. We’ll lead with science. We’ll listen to the experts. We’ll heed their advice. And we’ll build American leadership and rebuild it to rally the world to meet the global threats.” | |
| Throughout his remarks, Mr. Biden nodded — as he often does — to what he cast as the resiliency and potential of the American people. | |
| “In the difficult days ahead, I know that this country will summon the spirit, the empathy, the decency and the unity needed because in times of crisis, the American people always, always stand as one if told the truth,” he said. “We’ll meet this challenge together. I’m confident of it. But we have to move, and move now.” | |
| Mr. Biden, who is 77, did not stop to take shouted questions about his own health. | |
| He 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.” | “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.” | 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. | 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 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. | 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. | He entered this speech, however, having amassed a big delegate advantage, and facing just one Democratic opponent, Mr. Sanders. |