President Joe Biden returned to his birthplace in Pennsylvania on Saturday for a final campaign stop for Vice President Kamala Harris and let loose again — offering the kind of unfiltered political sentiment that has become all too common in recent weeks.
Biden criticized Harris’ rival, former Republican President Donald Trump, and his supporters on policy issues during a speech in Scranton, but then suggested he would literally hit back at fake “macho people.”
“Trump and his Republican friends want to do another thing. They want to do a big tax cut for the rich,” Biden told the local chapter of the carpenters union. Then, apparently referencing people who support Trump, he added, “Now, I know some of you are tempted to think that these are macho people.”
Biden continued, “I tell you what, man, when I was in Scranton, we sometimes had a little trouble getting to the plot.” “These are the kind of people you want to kick ass.”
During a rally in North Carolina Saturday night, Trump poked fun at Biden and asked the crowd, “I don’t even know, is he still around?”
The crowd laughed at Biden’s remarks in Scranton. But it was another moment of straying from his political script, something that is now happening more often with the president — even if he has played a decidedly limited role in promoting Harris, something for his one-time running mate. Campaigns have been stopped.
Earlier this week, Biden caused a stir by responding to racist comments made at a recent Trump rally by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called the US island territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating around out there is his supporters,” Biden said in response.
White House press officers changed the official transcript of Biden’s comments, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained by The Associated Press, prompting objections from federal workers who want to censor what the president says for posterity. Let’s transcribe.
And the reference to “trash” came after Biden — during a recent stop at a campaign office in New Hampshire — saying of Trump, “We’ve got to shut him down,” before quickly amending his comments, the note said. That he meant Democrats “need to shut him down politically.”
Biden’s comments Saturday come as gender issues and partisan loyalties between men and women have emerged as a top feature of the campaign.
Trump has used masculine tactics throughout his campaign to attract more male voters. He has supported a return to traditional gender roles and has addressed topics such as “women’s safety” in the closing days of the campaign, whether he “likes it or not”.
Harris has taken a different approach, promising to protect access to abortion and increase government spending to help families cover the costs of housing and child care.
Although he spent decades as a senator from Delaware, Biden spent his early childhood in Scranton and Saturday’s event was in many ways a homecoming for the fringe president. He spoke at the same union hall he visited on election day in 2020
“Let them know how important this election is,” Biden told the crowd of about 200 cheering supporters. When he said, “I’m nothing special,” an audience member shouted, “Sure you are,” to a chorus of “Thanks, Joe.”
The President called on attendees to vote “for yourself and your family, the people you grew up with, the people you come from.”
“Don’t forget where you came from,” Biden said, to boos and applause. “Don’t leave behind the people you grew up with.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
