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Biden Holds Campaign Rally In Pennsylvania; Trump Holds Campaign Rally In North Carolina; U.S. Records One-Day Record With 83,000-Plus New Coronavirus Cases. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired October 24, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[11:00:18]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin this hour with the U.S. trending in the wrong direction and a frightening new milestone just ten days before the election.
On Friday, new coronavirus cases hit a new single day record with 83,757 -- that's even higher than the last pandemic spike back in July. The death toll now over 224,000 Americans and counting.
And to put that in perspective, an artist created this grim memorial in the nation's capital, one white flag for every American life lost in the crisis.
And right now, President Trump is on his way to a rally in North Carolina. It's one of several stops he's making today in some of the key battleground states needed for his re-election.
Moments ago, Trump voted in person in his home state of Florida, something he is encouraging his supporters to do as well -- early voting.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden holding a drive-in rally in Pennsylvania. The former vice president focusing his attention on the Keystone State during the final stretch, a clear sign of the role he expects Pennsylvania to play come election day.
We have reporters across the country covering the latest in the coronavirus, as well as on the campaign trail.
Let's begin with the Biden campaign and M.J. Lee in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. So M.J., the former vice president holding a drive-in rally in the suburbs of Philadelphia. What are his closing arguments with just ten days now to go?
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it tells you a lot that Joe Biden is kicking off his second to last weekend before election day here in the state of Pennsylvania. This is such a critical state and both campaigns know it. We saw him give a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday, where he sort of previewed what he might be talking about here today. His speech is set to begin in a few minutes and I should just quickly note it is a drive-in rally.
This kind of event has become sort of a signature Joe Biden campaign event where people are basically watching him speak from their cars.
Such a contrast from the kinds of rallies that we have seen from President Trump where they're often crowded, there's no social distancing, and very few mask wearing that we see in the crowds.
And in terms of just the closing message that we are going to be hearing from Joe Biden, we know that he is probably going to talk about COVID-19 because at this point, every single speech, every single campaign event held by Joe Biden centers around the virus.
And yesterday in that speech I mentioned, you know, he sort of laid out his own vision for how he plans on dealing with the virus if he is elected president. He talked about things like how he would enforce mask wearing across the state. He talked about how he might distribute vaccines and PPE. And of course he has been going after the president as well on what he says are his failures in dealing with this virus.
Yesterday he even said in Wilmington, you know, this is a president who has simply quit on the American people and he has also just repeatedly asked the American people to imagine that the future could be different under a Biden presidency.
And before I go, I will just note, too, this is just the first stop for Biden in Pennsylvania today. Later today in Luzern County, he is going to be joined by Jon Bon Jovi. That is just one celebrity, one high-profile surrogate, that we are going to see out on the road for him this weekend.
The singer Cher is going to be performing in Las Vegas for the Biden campaign and we're going to see others like former president, Barack Obama in Miami. Kamala Harris, of course, will be out. She will be in Ohio. And Bernie Sanders is going to be in western Pennsylvania.
So a busy weekend ahead for the Biden campaign, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Taking no real estate for granted. All right. M.J. Lee, thank you so much.
All right. Meantime, we are just moments away from the first of three campaign rallies planned for President Trump. The president is focusing his attention on several key battleground states, but he's also visiting states facing surges in coronavirus cases.
CNN's Dianne Gallagher is standing by for us in North Carolina. Dianne, what is expected there?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well Fred, look, this is no accident that President Trump is visiting North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin today. States that he won in 2016, but polls show it may be a little bit more of a difficult trip for him in 2020.
These are also all states that are facing surges in COVID-19. Here in the state of North Carolina, the state set a record yesterday for the highest number of reported cases in one day. They've been experiencing and breaking records over the past week here.
[11:05:03]
GALLAGHER: But this is the president's second trip to North Carolina this week alone. Now, here in Lumberton, North Carolina this is a much smaller crowd than the one that we did see on Wednesday night in Gastonia, North Carolina. But people are still starting to come in here. We're seeing a smattering of masks, if you will.
But another difference is that we're in Robson County. So it's not just about the swing state of North Carolina, but President Trump is visiting the pivot count of Robson County.
Robson went for President Obama in 2008 and 2016 -- I'm sorry, 2008 and 2012 -- and then switched to President Trump in 2016. And he's been working hard to continue that and see if he can get them in 2020.
A key vote there the Lumbee Indian nation, the tribe has extreme clout in Robson County. It's the largest non-federally recognized tribe east of the Mississippi.
President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden have both pledged support for them to become federally-recognized, a key factor in winning the Lumbee vote.
WHITFIELD: Dianne -- people have been voting, you know, for some time now. Today the president cast his in-person ballot in Florida. Talk to us about why he decided to do it this way.
GALLAGHER: So the president chose to go and vote in person, along with his members of security, Secret Service, and others that travel along with him, and then chose to cast doubt on other forms with no evidence whatsoever. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a very secure vote. Much more secure than when you send in a ballot, I can tell you that. Everything was perfect. Very strict, right by the rules.
When you send in your ballot, it could never be like that. It could never be secure like that. They've done a fantastic job over here. Great people inside.
But it's an honor to be voting. It's an honor to be in this great area, which I know so well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: So it's secure to send your ballot in by mail. Almost three million people in the state of North Carolina have already voted early, more than half a million of those voted by mail in this state, Fred. And when the president was asked who he voted for, he said "some guy named Trump" so --
WHITFIELD: Yes, that's to be presumed. All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much. We'll check back with you there in North Carolina.
All right. Joining me now to discuss the 2020 race, David Swerdlick. He is an assistant editor for "The Washington Post" and a CNN political commentator.
David, good to see you.
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's start with the president's comments there. I mean he is, you know, voting in person and then he would still disparage any kind of, you know, mail-in voting saying it could never be secure.
That's a strange message coming from the president just ten days away from election day, isn't it?
SWERDLICK: Yes. Good morning, Fred.
It's not only a strange message, it's a damaging message. Mail-in voting is legal, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Many studies have been done on this.
Five states, I believe, do only mail-in voting. I worked on a story earlier this year about mail-in voting in Oregon and even the Republican secretary of state there is thumbs up on it.
President Trump basically had to go vote in person if he wanted to drive home this message that there was something wrong, this wrong message that there was something wrong, with mail-in voting or absentee voting even though it's something that he and members of his team have done in the past.
It is part of a strategy of trying to undermine faith in the vote and at this point it's hard to say how this is going to play out by November 3rd. But it is clearly antithetical to the way his predecessors have approached this and most politicians approach this to suggest that there is some fundamental flaw in our voting system.
Of course, there's always individual instances of voter fraud or, you know, irregularities, but the major studies simply say that most voting takes place without widespread fraud in this country.
WHITFIELD: Right now, the president on route from Florida to North Carolina. We saw the live pictures, people gathering there in Lumberton, North Carolina for this rally.
Let's talk about the president's strategy down this homestretch, continuing to ignore the dangers of the pandemic, encouraging people to come out to these rallies, people in close proximity. And at the same time, you know, the president falsely -- continuing to falsely claim that we're rounding the corner of the virus, when now we're looking at, you know, a record in the number of cases in a single day. The president continues to kind of traverse in this alternate reality.
SWERDLICK: It is alternate reality. When you have a global pandemic that's hitting hardest in the United States, when every day there are tens of thousands of new cases and every day there's plus or minus about a thousands.
[11:09:58]
SWERDLICK: The idea that we are rounding the corner is not only wrong and it's not only misinformation, it's an insult to the people who have contracted the disease or to people who died from the disease.
To the extent that this campaign is about the response of the government to the coronavirus, the federal government, this is territory that vice president Biden wants to be campaigning on.
To the extent that it's about some other issues that aren't affecting people as widely, I think that is something that President Trump wants to be campaigning on.
We're past the point of the national polls. Every state poll is what the campaigns are looking at. That's why you see Trump in North Carolina and Florida.
If you look at polling averages, those states are within the margin of error and it's why vice president Biden, even though he's the Scranton guy, is making two stops in Pennsylvania today. It's a must-have for Biden and Democrats if they want to reverse 2016, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And on Biden's side, President Obama back on the campaign trail today, holding another rally for Biden. And, you know, we've already heard from Obama saying, you know, Trump lives in reality TV world, but the reality is, you know, this coronavirus is very serious.
How potentially impactful is Obama's case for the seriousness of coronavirus and this is a referendum on the current administration?
SWERDLICK: Right, Fred. President Obama came out with those two events in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Both the sit-down with various elected and community leaders and the speech that he gave later in the day.
I took three messages from President Obama coming out. One, the fact that it was in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, emphasizing that that is a must-win state. Democrats want to pick off North Carolina or Florida, but they have to have Pennsylvania.
The second thing, as you say, was that President Obama was out there emphasizing the message that, hey, he said any president would have had a tough time with this, but basically in his view President Trump didn't even try. President Trump gave up. And then lastly is that if there's one thing about President Obama in sort of all facets of his political career, it's that he was a run through the tape guy, if you'll pardon the sports metaphor.
His message out there is finish to the end. Just because if you're a Democrat you feel like you've got high turnout or a good lead, that's not sufficient. You've got to go all the way through election day.
Meanwhile on the side, with President Trump is doing so many events because he wants to put his coronavirus diagnosis and being air-lifted to the hospital in that rearview mirror.
I mean think about it. He's doing so many events, Trump in the hospital seems like a hundred years ago now, Fred. And that's what Trump wants.
WHITFIELD: Right. I mean traversing something like four states today and, you know, Biden and his camp, or at least Biden trying to, you know, maintain, you know, the attention of voters in one state.
All right, David Swerdlick, thank you so much.
SWERDLICK: Thanks Fred.
WHITFIELD: Ok. So the pandemic is getting worse. A record 83,000 new cases in a single day. And now the nation's chief epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says now might be time to mandate masks. But is it too late to curb yet another spike?
Plus, Joe Biden and Donald Trump competing for votes in North Carolina, but the vote could come down to black voters fed up with both parties.
And, new today, law enforcement now bracing for election day violence as the country falls deeper into a partisan divide. Their new gear, laser blocking sunglasses and more. We're live coming up.
[11:13:35]
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WHITFIELD: The U.S. has just recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Over 83,000 new infections reported nationwide on Friday as Dr. Anthony Fauci says it might be time to mandate masks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If everyone agrees that this is something that's important and they mandated it and everybody pulls together and say, you know, we're going to mandate it, but let's just do it. I think that would be a great idea to have everybody do it uniformly.
One of the issues, though, I get the argument, they say well, if you mandate a mask, then you're going to have to enforce it and that will create more of a problem. Well, if people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: CNN's Polo Sandoval joining me now from New York. So Polo, what more are you learning?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, Fred, this is obviously an issue that's certainly dominated the campaign trail and I know that we're going to be going to the campaign trail shortly.
But first, just for the very latest in terms of those number, Fred. I mean consider the current rate of new COVID cases right now at about 63,000 across the country. And when you look at the map, it's quite obvious that this is a map that really says much of the story here.
You see a whole lot of red here, about 130,000 lives could potentially be saved according to one recent study, if more of the country would potentially mask up.
And then there's also the issue of deaths, for example. Now, we do know that they are not as high as they were this past summer, but when you look at those numbers, they certainly seem to be climbing again.
Yesterday 943 people lost to the COVID-related illness here. And so what authorities are doing is essentially doubling down on their recommendation for people to mask up and continue to take those precautions especially as we go into the fall and winter months, since many experts are saying that there is concern.
you know, we saw that the number of 83,000 new cases yesterday. There is concern that we could see six-figure numbers -- daily numbers.
In fact, there's so many that we've seen here that one local artist is even trying to show you exactly how much of an impact, of course, the coronavirus has had on many lives.
In fact, this exhibit in Washington, D.C. by an artist paying homage to those who have died, planting those small white flags representing those massive voids that have been left behind in the lives of so many families.
[11:19:59|
SANDOVAL: You see that ticker also, 224,058 lives, according to Johns Hopkins University. It's certainly why these pictures have been shared across the country.
And according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, hopefully encouraging people to double down, because these forecasts that we continue to see is not necessarily where we will be, Fred, but it's where we may be.
WHITFIELD: Wow, all those flags definitely resonate.
SANDOVAL: It hits home.
WHITFIELD: It really does. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. SANDOVAL: Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: So with cases surging to record levels across the nation, experts like Dr. Fauci say Americans need to double down on public health basics like wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds and frequent hand washing.
Joining me now is Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at Emory University Medical School. Doctor, good to see you.
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EMORY UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL: Good seeing you, Fred.
WHITFIELD: So in your view could these record numbers have been avoided by just more people doing the basics?
DR. DEL RIO: Yes. Unfortunately we have grossly mishandled the pandemic and the fact that it's taken off again, just reminds us how we're not learning from our mistakes. And we could have avoided this by doing the right thing, but we don't seem to learn.
And I think, you know, besides the things that we have talked about -- about masking, about social distancing, washing your hands, it's really important that we avoid, you know, large crowds, congregate settings, especially indoors. Indoor congregation in bars, in houses, in other places is a concern.
So I'm very concerned about what's going to happen next. We're about to enter the winter season. People will be indoors. We're about to enter, you know, the holiday season. People will be gathering together in houses and I see cases only going up if we don't do the appropriate thing.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And, you know, with the holiday season fast approaching, I mean there are people who are feeling so fatigued and frustrated, you know, by coronavirus and having to make adjustments in their life that really they do want to kind of let their guard down for the holidays because they long to be with the families. So is there, in your view, kind of a safe way in which people can do that? Because, you know, you're not going to be able to persuade many people to not go visit.
DR. DEL RIO: I think there is a way to do it, but you know, it's almost you need to create your own bubble. And I would say limit the number of people, probably no more than ten people. See where they're coming from. Make sure everybody agrees that you know, 14 days before we get together everybody, you know, stays indoors, wears a mask. Getting tested would be useful.
I mean there's many things we can do. But you can create your own bubble. You can create a way to do this safely. But it requires everybody to play ball.
WHITFIELD: Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and the University of Minnesota told CNN last night that he expects the U.S. to hit six figures in terms of daily new cases soon.
The first wave of shutdowns and restrictions were aimed at flattening the curve so that our nation's hospitals would not be overwhelmed. Are hospitals prepared for this spike and potentially even another?
DR. DEL RIO: You know, I think hospitals have learned and are better prepared, but the problem that we have in our hospitals is the hospital capacity in the U.S. is pretty much full all the time. We have learned to work like airlines, basically. We work at full capacity. So you don't have a lot of surge capacity in our hospitals.
I can tell you that, you know, right now, for example, here in Atlanta, we're not seeing a lot of COVID, but our hospitals are already full. So it won't take much to pretty much overwhelm the system. And we're seeing that already in Wisconsin. We're seeing that in the Dakotas right now. We're seeing in Iowa. So my advice is don't get infected and don't get sick because you cannot be -- you might get to the hospital and there may not be a bed available for you.
WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. So Dr. del Rio, your message, you know, has been very clear but listen to what President Trump told supporters in Florida about the pandemic last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to quickly end this pandemic, this horrible plague that came in from China.
You look at what's going on. And we're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. We're rounding the corner beautifully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So how do you counter that, that the president keeps saying we're rounding the corner? You look at the spike, you know, daily spike yesterday, and, you know, people's lives are far from normal.
DR. DEL RIO: Well, you know, I think we've heard too many times from the president what I would call wishful thinking, you know, when we have 12 cases, he said it's going to go away. He talked about, you know, by easter, it's going to be gone.
There's a lot of wishful thinking and wishful thinking is not a strategy. We have never had a national strategy. We have never had a national, you know, approach to this pandemic. We really never locked down the country. We did it in segments. We did it in places. We didn't do it appropriately. We didn't control the transmission of the virus.
[11:24:56]
DR. DEL RIO: And furthermore, we are not having a national plan. Each state is doing its own thing and you simply cannot fight a war with 50 different plans. That would not go a long way.
And the other thing we've lost is, you know, we cripple our public health agencies by having CDC removed from the lead role that it needs to have.
We have essentially removed our best and brightest people from being in the front line of this pandemic. And I love Dr. Fauci. He's terrific. But we need to have CDC, which is really the backbone of the public health response.
WHITFIELD: On the issue of vaccines, Johnson & Johnson taking steps to resume its coronavirus vaccine trial after finding no clear cause for a participant's serious medical event.
The trial was paused earlier this month after a participant got sick. A source familiar with the process says the trials could restart in the coming days.
Is this unusual to kind of start and stop or rejigger or is this a norm?
DR. DEL RIO: This is actually the norm. This is how clinical research happens. The number one rule in clinical research is you want to ensure the safety of participants. And whenever anything happens that you worry about safety of participants, if it's a serious safety concern, you stop the trial. You have an independent board, not the investigators, not the company, so people are not conflicted, what we call a data safety monitoring board.
You have an independent board, review the data, they may and unblind the data for those individuals and then decide whether this is a problem or not.
And if it's a problem, they may actually stop the trial completely. But if it's not, they'll let the trial resume.
This is how science is supposed to work. This is how clinical research is supposed to happen. So people should be assured that this is actually good.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Carlos del Rio, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.
DR. DEL RIO: Glad to be with you.
WHITFIELD: All right. The candidates are taking to the campaign trail, as we mentioned North Carolina is the next stop for the president. And right now in Pennsylvania, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is to take to the microphone there after his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. They are in Bucks County, Pennsylvania -- the fourth most populated county in Pennsylvania. And we're going to listen in.
(LIVE EVENT)
JILL BIDEN, WIFE OF JOE BIDEN: He went back to work for you as the vice president. That's just who he is.
And Joe was faced unimaginable tragedies, but his purpose has always driven him forward. His strength of will is unstoppable. His faith is unshakeable. Because it's not in politicians or political parties, or even himself, it's in the providence of God. It's in the potential of our nation. His fate is in you, it's in us.
Through it all, he learned how to heal a broken family. It's the same way you heal a country, with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness, with bravery, with unwavering hope.
Joe has spent his entire career listening and bringing people together. And Joe Biden will be a president for all people.
And he has a plan to calm the chaos of Donald Trump's America, but he can't do it without you. Right now, there are so many who want to tell us that our country is hopelessly divided, that our differences are irreconcilable, that our communities are fractured beyond repair.
And beneath that is another message -- your voice can't fix it, your vote doesn't matter. But that's not who we are, is it, Bucks County?
In this pandemic we're supporting each other, we're finding mercy and grace in the moments that we might once have taken for granted. We're seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities are infinite.
Democrat and Republican, rural and urban, north and south, coast to coast -- you, our communities, are showing that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage.
[11:29:54]
J. BIDEN: We don't agree on everything and we know we don't have to. We can still love and respect one another, can't we?
Now, as most of you probably know, I'm a Philly girl. I grew up in Willow Grove not far from here, straight down Broad Street. And I know not all Pennsylvanians agree when it comes to Flyers versus Penguins, Steelers versus Eagles, Sheetz versus Wawa -- but there are two areas where we can all be on the same page.
Number one, we all want to see the Patriots lose.
And, number two, is that Pennsylvania is ready for Joe Biden.
So, are you ready to get this done?
This is it. There are no do-overs. In this election we have to believe that our communities are stronger than the challenges they face, because they are. We have to believe that our votes matter, because they do. And we have to show up right now, put our shoulders back, and work like we have never worked before.
So, Bucks County, will you join us?
Will you help us show that our country will never settle for less than our highest aspirations?
Ok, get ready for this one. Will you stand with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? Because I know that when you do, we will win. So thank you for being with us today. Thank you to all of you for showing up now when it matters the most. And thank you for your faith in an idea that's bigger than any one of us. And that is that we will build a better country, because we are going to do this together, Pennsylvania.
Now, I'm excited to introduce Tara Huber. I often say that educators are the best organizers. How many educators are out there?
Thank you. We know, we educators know how to make something out of nothing. We fight for our communities and we know when to use our teacher voice. And Tara, I know you are proving me right today, so come on up, Tara.
[MUSIC]
(SHOW)
WHITFIELD: All right. We've got so much more ahead as we continue to watch this drive-in rally, just ahead of Democratic nominee Joe Biden taking to the mic there. You heard from his wife saying, you know, Joe Biden, his faith, his will is unshakeable and he will help to heal the country, similar to the manner in which he also had to help heal after personal tragedy.
We'll keep a close watch on this. We'll be back after this.
[11:34:06]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Still being introduced at a drive-in rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Democratic nominee Joe Biden, of course, when he takes the microphone there and begins his remarks, we'll take it.
All right. Meantime, President Trump is looking for cracks in Joe Biden's lead in the polls, especially in the midwestern battleground states that brought him, Trump, the White House in 2016. And that's putting the issue of fracking front and center in the president's messaging in states like Pennsylvania. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Joe Biden is elected, he'll end fracking.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No new fracking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would be the end of my job and thousands of others. Pennsylvania is a fossil fuel state. It will be devastating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Matt Egan joins us now from Bergen County, New Jersey. Matt, good to see you. So you know, the message the president wants to send is that Biden will ban fracking outright. Biden's campaign has had to clear up his stance on the issue, saying perhaps no new fracking on federal land and ending subsidies on fracking.
Why is this so crucial for Joe Biden to clarify?
MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS LEAD WRITER: Well Fred, I think there's two big reasons why everyone is talking about fracking right now. One, jobs. Fracking employs many people across the country. Two, Pennsylvania. 32,000 people alone in Pennsylvania work in that industry.
[11:39:58]
EGAN: And as we know, Pennsylvania might be the ultimate prize in this election, the 20 electoral votes from that state could really swing the whole election.
Now, let's back up, though, just for a minute and sort of explain --
WHITFIELD: Matt -- I am so sorry I have to interrupt you, because Joe Biden is now talking in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Let's listen.
(LIVE EVENT)
BIDEN: I appreciate you being safe. What we don't want to do is become super spreaders. But thank you so much. I wish I could see all of you back there. But thank you, thank you, thank you, for being here.
And for all of you who brought your kids, you owe them at least an ice cream cone on the way home or some reward for being here.
Look, Tara, you're doing the most important work in America, teaching our kids. I've often said they're not somebody else's kids, they're all our kids.
They're the kite strings that lift our national ambitions aloft. Without you we're in real trouble. I'm not saying this because I'm married to a teacher, but I have to admit, if I weren't saying it married to a teacher, if I won, I would be sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom alone.
Look, everything that will be possible for our country tomorrow is thanks to the hard work of our educators today. And they're operating under extraordinary circumstances. Because you're giving kids here in Bucks County the confidence to believe in themselves. It all gets down to confidence.
We were talking before we came out and maybe I shouldn't say this, but I think Jill's second grade teacher is here. I'll bet every one of you can remember who your first, second, third, fourth, fifth grade teachers were and what they do. And they do it well, and they do it well is give you a sense of confidence, give you a sense of your possibilities. I want to thank two great county commissioners. Diane, you've done an incredible job turning things blue last year. Bob, I want to thank you all.
By the way, I used to be a county commissioner. I ran for the United States Senate because it's too hard being the county commissioner. They know where you live. And when you knock on the door and say I'm a county commissioner, they go, yes, exactly. What you do is more important than what anybody else does, you affect their lives every day. I want to thank you, thank you, thank you.
I want to thank all the speakers today, all of them. And Jim Greenwood is an old buddy. Good to see you, Jim. I know you're here.
And Patrick, thank you for mentioning our son Beau. You know, I carry with me every day in my pocket a schedule. And my schedule, this is the last 12, 13 years now, on the back of the schedule I have written in the black box the total number of troops who have died, who have been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq and other parts of the world.
Because every one of these troops, every one of these fallen angels left behind an entire community, left behind family, left behind people who are still mourning their losses.
As of today, in Iraq and Afghanistan 6,924 -- not roughly 6,900 -- 6,924 because every one of them deserves to be remembered. U.S. troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan 53,194 -- not 53,000.
Folks, folks, the idea that our president talks about these folks who gave their lives and gave their everything for this country as suckers and losers, is all by itself an understanding why his six top generals who have worked for him all say he's not fit to be the commander in chief. He doesn't understand the sacrifices they've made.
And nobody knows that better than Patrick.
And Christina, our next congresswoman, I'm looking forward to serving with you, kid. I am looking forward to serving with you. You've got the grit, the toughness and the smarts to get this done. I really am. I mean it sincerely.
Let's be sure when you win back the White House you send along Christina, because she's going to fight like hell for the families of Bucks County, for hard-working folks.
Look, I'm not from Bucks County, but I'm from Pennsylvania. It's my home state. It's great to be back, back on Bristol Campus.
[11:44:50]
BIDEN: Around here, though, as you all figured out, I'm known as Jill Biden's husband, and I'm proud of it. She grew up 25 miles from here in Willow Grove. And she and I are here today because it's go time, folks.
As my coach at Delaware would say, it's go time, it's game day. We have ten days left. It may come down to Pennsylvania. And I believe in you, I believe in my state. The choice has never been clearer and the stakes have never been higher.
The stakes in this election remind me of something my dad used to say. My dad, when coal died in Scranton and jobs began to collapse, my dad was not a coal miner, my great grand pop was a mining engineer and a state senator from Pennsylvania.
But you know, he used to say when we had to leave to go down to Delaware to find a job, he said Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity, it's about respect. It's about your place in the community. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be ok, and mean it. That's the lesson I've never forgotten.
That's what I grew up with, surrounded by hard-working families in Scranton and down the road in Claymont, Delaware. How many today can look at their kids and say with confidence everything is going to be ok and mean it? How many hundreds of cars waiting in line right here in the Bristol campus yesterday to pick up meals, because proud families who always made it work are being pushed to the brink right now.
Times are hard. Unemployment is way up. Folks are worried about making their next rent or mortgage payment, whether their health care will be ripped away in the middle of the pandemic. Worried about sending their kids to school, worried about not sending their kids to school.
They see folks at the top doing much better, while the rest are wondering who is looking out for me.
That's Donald Trump's presidency. More than 220,000 dead Americans because of COVID-19. And yesterday while he's telling us everything is all right, we saw the highest number -- 85,000 new cases in one day since this pandemic began.
And yesterday the worst day we've ever had. Yet at the debate on Thursday night Donald Trump said and is still saying we're rounding the corner. It's going away. We're learning how to live with it.
Well, I told him at the debate we're not learning how to live with it. You're asking us to learn how to die with it, and it's wrong.
There's going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways. Experts tell us we're going to lose nearly another 200,000 lives nationwide in the next several months, all because this president cares more about the stock market than he does you. Because he refuses to follow the science.
It's estimated that if we just wore masks, just wore masks, over the next few months experts in his own administration say we'd save 100,000 lives.
You know, you know what is really sad about this? The president knew this back in February. He lied to us. He told us he hadn't read the intelligence reports that showed how bad this was, how deadly the virus was.
But he went on television, he went on air, I should say, with Bob Woodward, and he said he knew how deadly the virus was, and he hid it from the country.
But here is what he did, according to "The New York Times" several days ago, his administration, they didn't tell us about the virus. The administration gave Wall Street investors though a heads-up. He didn't tell us, he just told his Wall Street friends and that's why they made so much money by, quote, selling short in the market. They knew what was coming.
What happened to the rest of us? He tried to claim he didn't want to panic the American people, but the American people don't panic. He panicked. And he still has no plan. All he can do is double down on his Park Avenue way of looking at the world.
Before this pandemic, he handed out $1.5 trillion in tax giveaways to the wealthiest families in the nation and the corporations. And now, even with 30 million Americans who've lost their jobs, their hours, he thinks the way to get the American economy back on track is he's proposing another multibillion-dollar tax cut for those corporations and the super wealthy.
[11:50:02]
BIDEN: Since the start of this pandemic, hard to believe, according to Forbes, billionaires in this country have seen their wealth increase $700 billion. Billionaires. That's not come from liberal think group. That's coming from Forbes. $700 billion.
But Donald Trump can't get his own party to deliver real economic relief for working families. I don't think he wants to. We've passed -- Congress has passed the Heroes Act way back in May. He spent all is time on his golf course sand trap or in his bunker not trying to bring together anybody to get it done.
They don't have time for that -- to work on how to get relief now. The hard working people, and those unemployed, small businesses, the schools in the middle of this pandemic. They do have time, though, to spend several weeks on confirming a new justice who is interested in doing one thing, getting rid of Obamacare.
I'll tell you why. Trump's dream of wiping out Obamacare off the books is well under way because his nominee has said in the past the law should be struck down. If they get their way, over 100 million Americans, including 5.3 million Pennsylvanians will lose their protections for pre-existing conditions that we worked so hard to provide.
Complications of COVID-19 will become pre-existing conditions. Allowing insurers to jack up your premiums or deny you coverage.
And women will again be charged more for their health care just because they're women, which Obamacare wiped out. But nothing is more offensive than the way he's spoken about, as I said, those who served the nation, suckers and losers. As I said my son Beau served in Iraq a year, before that he was assistant U.S. attorney in Kosovo for six months. He came home a decorated war veteran. And all those he left behind, he wasn't a loser or sucker.
He was a patriot. Like so many of you. So many of your sons and daughters, parents and grandparents. Frankly, I've dealt with guys like Trump my whole life. So have many of you. Guys who look down on you because they have a lot of money. Guys who inherited everything. Got everything in their life given to them and then managed to squander it.
Guys who avoid paying their taxes, he says, because he's smart. He knows how to game the system. Isn't that just the guy you want setting tax policy? The guy who says he's smart to game the system so you don't get the help you need. You pay more taxes because they figure the rest of us, the little people, we can pick up the tab.
Now we find out Trump has a secret bank account in China. Well, guess what. He's paid 50 times more in taxes in Beijing than he's paid in America. That's a fact. He has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. Over $400 million due in the next few years. Who does he owe it to? Where is it coming from? He's the only guy and he is known (ph) as president, who's making money from foreign sources.
Folks, give me a break. This guy is not on the level. He thinks Wall Street built this country. But you and I know who really built this country. Families like mine, working people built it. The middle class. And unions built the middle class.
Folks, we're so much better than this. We can bring back this economy and starts with my plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly. Bringing the country around to testing and tracing and masking, social distancing. Not politicizing the race for a vaccine. Planning for its safe and equitable distribution so everybody gets it.
Providing for funding to open our schools and our businesses safely. The PPE national standards. Bringing together Republicans and Democrats to deliver economic relief for working families and schools and businesses. A majority want to do that, even those who are there now.
[11:54:44]
BIDEN: As I said before, I'll shut down the virus, not the economy and we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can build back better than before.
An independent analysis by Moody's, a Wall Street firm, looked at my plan and his plan in detail. This is Moody's. And they said my plan will create 18.6 million jobs in the next four years. That's 7 million more jobs and $1 trillion more in growth than the president's plan. And that comes from Wall Street and Moody's.
Here's how my plan works. None of you will have your taxes raised. Anyone making less than $400,000 will not see a penny in taxes raised. You'll actually see your standard of living go up and your costs go down.
And why I'm going to do this? I'm going to ask big corporations, the wealthy to pay their fair share. Right now of the Fortune 500 companies, there are 91 who don't pay a single penny in tax. If they just paid 50 percent, instead of the 28 percent they should, that would raise $400 billion. Allowing me to send every single qualified person to community college if that's what they chose for free. Make sure everyone with a family income less than $125,000 could go to a state university for free. Making sure that we could make sure you had your health insurance covered.
Folks, my dad used to say, if everything is equally important to you, nothing is important. What are your priorities? And they'd say to my dad, let me tell you what I valued, Joe. My dad looking at me, don't it'll me what you value. Show me your budget. I'll tell you what you value.
All (INAUDIBLE) value opportunity, decency, respect. Making sure there's a fair play out there. It's time for working people in the middle class to get tax relief. To help you buy your first home. To pay for that child care. Or caring for an aging loved one.
How many single moms or moms and dads today made the decision, if their school was open, do I go to my job or do I stay home with my child if it's not open? How do I leave them behind? What do I do?
We're going to also make health care affordable for everyone. I'm going to build on the Affordable Care Act so you can keep your private insurance if that's what you choose to do. Or you can choose a Medicare-like option if you're poor.
Look. We'll increase subsidies to lower your premiums and deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. It's real. It's been looked at. It's positive. And I'll lower your prescription drug costs in this country by 60 percent.
I say that sounds great, Joe. How are you going to do that? We're going to allow Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies on how much they can charge for their prescriptions and all the drugs.
Look, we're going to make sure you keep protections for pre-existing conditions. Barack Obama and I fought too hard for that and won. We're going to protect your social security, Medicare. Not what he's doing. He says -- re-elect me and I'm going to do away with the funding for social security out of your paycheck.
Sounds great. Except the actuary at Social Security said that will bankrupt social security by 2023. So go home and tell your parents what a good guy this guy is.
We're going to create millions of union jobs modifying the infrastructure, modernizing it. We're going to rebuild American manufacturing by enforcing a buy America plan.
Let me be clear. The fact is that the president of the United States, there's over $600 billion in contracts awarded to get things done, everything from building ships to infrastructure. No one will get a contract, and this does not violate any trade policy. No one will get a contract in a Biden administration that doesn't provide products all of which were made in America. Made in America. That will create millions of new jobs.
Look, let me be clear also. I'm not banning fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else. And I can protect Pennsylvania jobs, period.
[11:59:40]
BIDEN: No matter how many times Donald Trump lies, he's never delivered on his promise for a big infrastructure plan. He told you in '17, I've got an infrastructure plan coming. And then in '18, '19 and '20. He hasn't done a thing. It's right up there when he says he's going to protect pre-existing conditions. He hasn't done a thing.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to build roads, bridges that are crumbling.
