Biden Tears Into Trump’s Pandemic Response

“It is what it is because you are who you are”

Morry Gash/AP

The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis, and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

Joe Biden strongly condemned the Trump administration’s failed response to the coronavirus pandemic early in Tuesday’s presidential debate, using Trump’s infamous offhand remark about the disease’s death toll—”It is what it is”—against him.

“It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden said, landing an early blow in a debate that was muddled from the start as Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and moderator Chris Wallace. At one point, an exasperated Biden even asked, “Will you shut up, man?” 

“The president has no plan,” Biden said. “He hasn’t laid out anything. He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was.” 

Trump, who predicted in February that coronavirus cases would soon go down to zero, has repeatedly deflected blame for the pandemic that has now killed more than 200,000 Americans. “If we would have listened to you,” Trump told Biden, “the country would have been left wide open. Millions of people would have died, not 200,000.” 

In a jab at Trump’s frequent weekend golf trips, Biden urged him to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap in your golf course” and to “fund what needs to be done now to save lives.”

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate