Biden Delivers Blistering Attack On Trump During Pittsburgh Stop

PITTSBURGH, PA — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had harsh words for President Donald Trump during a campaign stop Monday, blaming the president for the violence that has erupted at recent protests in cities across the country.

“He doesn't want to shed light — he wants to generate heat, and he’s stoking violence in our cities,” Biden said. “He can't stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it."

Biden traveled to the battleground state of Pennsylvania from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he largely has run his campaign amid the coronavirus outbreak. The campaign has centered on Trump's alleged mishandling of the pandemic, but Biden on Monday attempted to counter the president's "law and order" message in recent weeks.

"He may believe mouthing the words law and order makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows you how weak he is," Biden said.

Although Trump narrowly won the state in 2016, polls thus far have Biden ahead in Pennsylvania. If Trump does not duplicate his victory four years ago, his chances of winning a second term take a significant hit.

The Keystone State's 20 electoral votes are tied for fifth-most, and Pennsylvania was one of three traditionally blue states that propelled Trump to victory in 2016. Trump, in fact, was the first Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

But Trump's margin of victory over Hillary Clinton was razor-thin. More than 6 million votes were cast in Pennsylvania and Trump won by 44,000 — or less than 1 percent.

Biden made the case on Monday that crises under Trump continue to multiply.

"COVID. Economic devastation. Unwarranted police violence. Emboldened white nationalists. A reckoning on race,” he said. “Declining faith in a bright American future. The common thread? An incumbent president who makes things worse, not better.”

Trump will be in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, delivering remarks at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe.