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A visibly angry Joe Biden on Friday blasted President Donald Trump over comments he reportedly made about U.S. military members, and said the economy is being held back by Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in Wilmington, Del., Biden began what was to be a solely economy-and-coronavirus-focused speech by ripping Trump’s reported instances of making disparaging remarks about members of the military who have been captured or killed.
“If what is written in the Atlantic is true, it’s disgusting,” said Biden. “It affirms what most of us believe to be true, that Donald Trump is not fit to be commander in chief,” he added.
Trump’s reported remarks included referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”
See:Trump disparaged U.S. war dead as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers,’ according to the Atlantic.
Trump on Thursday adamantly denied claims in the Atlantic article, referring to its allegations as “totally false.”
Biden’s speech came after the government reported the U.S. regained 1.4 million jobs in August and the unemployment rate posted a surprisingly large drop to 8.4% from 10.2% in July, according to the Labor Department report.
As MarketWatch reports, the latest data suggest an economic recovery is still plowing ahead, even if the pace of growth has slowed since the start of the summer. The U.S. shed more than 22 million jobs during the worst of the pandemic. So far, it’s restored about 10.7 million jobs.
Biden returned to a frequent theme by saying Trump has “botched” the pandemic response and said the economy would be better off had the president properly managed it.
“We all know it didn’t have to be this bad,” said Biden.
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 world-wide rose above 26.3 million on Friday, with the U.S. accounting for about a quarter of that total.
Coronavirus update:Global cases climb above 26.3 million, and U.S. vaccine program head sees very low chance of vaccine by late October.
Lawmakers in Washington, meanwhile, continue to wrangle over more aid for the economy as Americans struggle with the pandemic. Attempts to restart talks over another aid package failed in August, and the Senate is likely to be in session only 11 days through Sept. 30. House committees will work next week, the full House is also set to be in session for only 11 days before the end of the month.
U.S. stocks SPX, -1.50% were sharply lower Friday afternoon, following Thursday’s blistering bout of selling in technology and other highflying sectors.
