DALLAS — Former Vice President Joe Biden cut to the chase Saturday.
At a drive-in rally that brought hundreds of vehicles carrying several hundred masked passengers to the parking lot at Dallas High School, Biden attacked President Donald Trump for the way he “mishandled” the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“More than 220,000 dead Americans because of COVID-19,” Biden said. “Yesterday was the highest number of new cases — 85,000 cases in one day since the pandemic began. That was yesterday — the worst day we’ve ever had.”
Biden then reiterated what Trump said at Thursday night’s debate.
“Donald Trump was still saying, ‘we’re rounding the corner — it’s going away — we’re learning to live with it.’ But as I told him, we’re not learning to live with it — we’re learning to die with it, and there is a dark winter ahead.”
Biden then told the horn-blowing crowd that experts say nearly another 200,000 lives can be lost nationwide in the next few months because Trump cares more about the stock market than he does about people, because he refuses to follow science.
“It’s estimated that if we just wore masks, over the next few months we’d save over 100,000 lives,” Biden said. “And you know what’s really sad about all this? The President knew back in February how deadly this virus was, and he hid it from the country.”
Biden then cited a story in the New York Times that showed Trump’s Administration gave Wall Street investors “a heads up.”
“He didn’t tell us, just his Wall Street friends,: Biden said. “That’s why they made so much money, by quote, ‘selling short.’ They knew what was coming. Donald Trump sold us short — he sold you short.”
And Biden said Trump tried to claim he didn’t want to panic the American people.
“But the American people don’t panic. He panicked,” Biden said. “And he still has no plan.”
Biden was introduced by schoolteacher Bill Kane, who followed remarks by Dr. Jill Biden before her husband spoke. Also on hand were U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, who introduced Hall of Fame rocker Jon Bon Jovi; U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, State Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre; Mike Carroll, D-Avoca; and Gerald Mullery, D-Newport Township.
All of the elected officials got to say a few words about Biden, agreeing that this is the most important election of our lifetime.
Veteran for Biden
Willie Smith, 60 of Scranton, said he volunteers for the Democratic Party in Lackawanna County. He said his wife just became a naturalized citizen and will be voting in her first election.
“Joe Biden is an honest person who will do what he says,” Smith said. “The big turnoff with Trump is the way he has handled the pandemic. Joe Biden will do what needs to be done.”
Smith had his Jeep decorated with Biden-Harris signs and a “Veterans for Biden” sign. He said the veterans he knows are supporting Biden.
Biden said nothing is more offensive than the way Trump has spoken about those who’ve served this nation in uniform.
“He called them ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’ My son Beau served for a year in Iraq. He came home a decorated Iraq War veteran. He wasn’t a ‘loser’ or a ‘sucker.’ He was a patriot,” Biden said “Just like your sons and daughters. Your parents and grandparents.”
Kudos to Luzerne County
“Hello, Dallas, Pennsylvania!” Biden began. “It’s great to be in Luzerne County. Jon Bon Jovi — thank you. You’re a national treasure. You’ve always captured the heart and soul of America, and folks, that’s what’s at stake in this election.”
Biden said with 10 days left until the General Election, “It’s go-time. It may come down to Pennsylvania and I believe in you. Home is where your character is etched, where your values are set, where your view of the world and your place in it begins to form. For me, it was 2446 North Washington Ave. in Scranton, about 30 miles away.”
Biden waxed about his Scranton roots, where he said he learned that “money does not determine your worth, that no one is more worthy than you, that everyone is your equal.”
He went on, “Lessons shaped by our Catholic faith. Lessons from my Dad, who would say, ‘Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about dignity. Respect. Your place in the community. It’s about being able to look your kid in the eye and say that everything will be OK.’ I’ve never forgotten it.”
The he asked the crowd how many of them can look their kids in the eye and say “everything’s going to be okay,” and mean it?
Hard times
Biden said times are hard — unemployment is way up.
“You’re worried about making the next rent or mortgage payment,” he said. “Whether your health care will be ripped away in the middle of a pandemic. Worried about sending your kids to school, worried about not sending your kids to school.”
Biden said Trump’s presidency caters to the wealthy and leaves the middle class behind.
“All he can do is double down on his Park Avenue way of looking at the world,” Biden said. “This election is Park Avenue versus Scranton. Donald Trump can’t get his own Republican Party to deliver real economic relief to working families and small businesses. He thinks that $15 an hour minimum wage is too much for America’s essential workers. He thinks your unions don’t matter. He stopped overtime pay for you and millions of America’s workers.”
And knowing his crowd, Biden was sure to mention Trump having a proposed plan with a policy that the Social Security Actuary says will bankrupt Social Security by 2023.
“I’ll do what he’s unable to do — lead an effective strategy to mobilize a true international effort to pressure, isolate, and punish China to actually strengthen manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania and across the country,” Biden said. And if President Trump and the Republicans don’t have time to deliver real economic relief to working families and small business, then why in the middle of this pandemic, do they have the time to vote to confirm a Justice to the Supreme Court instead of addressing the significant economic needs of local communities?
Biden said Trump will wipe out Obamacare and if that happens, he said more than 20 million Americans could lose their coverage, including nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians and 100 million Americans will lose protections for preexisting conditions — including more than 5.3 million Pennsylvanians.
“Complications from COVID-19 will become the next 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,” Biden said. “Donald Trump thinks health care is a privilege. I think it is your right.”
State schools plug
Biden said if he’s elected president he will be the first president who didn’t go to an Ivy League school in a long time.
“Like somehow that meant I didn’t belong,” Biden said. “My guess is a lot of you have felt the same way in your own lives. I say it’s about time a state school president sat in the Oval Office. Because you know what? If I’m sitting there, you will be too.”
Biden said working people built the country — the middle class did and unions did.
“And we know we are so much better than this,” he said. “It starts with my plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly: bringing the country together around testing, tracing, and masking. Not politicizing the race for a vaccine, but planning for its safe and equitable distribution. Providing the funding for PPE and national standards for schools and businesses to reopen safely. Bringing together Republicans and Democrats to deliver economic relief to working families, schools, and businesses
“As I said before, I will shut down the virus, not the economy.”
Economy
Biden said an independent analysis put out by Moody’s — a Wall Street firm — projects that his Build Back Better plan will create 18.6 million jobs.
“That’s 7 million more jobs than the President’s plan, and $1 trillion more in economic growth than the President’s plan,: he said. “I’m not going to raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year. But, I’ll ask big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share. It’s time working people and the middle class get tax relief — to help you buy your first home or to pay for health care premiums or for child care or for caring for an aging loved one.”
Biden said he will do more than just praise essential workers.
“We’ll pay them. We’ll raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour,” he said. “We’ll make health care affordable for every American.
“And let me be clear. I will not ban fracking in Pennsylvania. I will protect Pennsylvania jobs. Period. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies.”
Biden said he has a plan to create millions of clean energy jobs in wind, solar, and carbon capture. He said Trump never delivered on his promise for a big infrastructure plan.
“He’s done nothing, and our roads and bridges are crumbling just as climate change is accelerating more frequent extreme weather events,” Biden said. “Not just with wildfires in California or hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. But here in Luzerne County with flooding along the Susquehanna River.”
Asks for votes
Biden said he understands why some voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
“You believed you weren’t being seen or respected or heard,” Biden said. “And Trump ran saying he would represent the forgotten men and women of this country — folks here in this county. I get it. But the truth is, once he got in office, he forgot you.”
Biden asked the crowd to remember what Trump said when the COVID-19 death count approached 200,000 in America.
“He said if you take out the blue states with Democratic governors and just look at the red states with Republican governors — we’re doing quite well,” Biden said. “First of all, that’s not true. Second, he’s saying if you live in a state like Pennsylvania — or in Michigan, or in Wisconsin, states with Democratic Governors — you’re not his problem. He’s not responsible for you, your family, your well-being.
“Folks, I don’t see the presidency that way. I don’t see America that way. This has to change. And it will change with me. You will be seen and heard and respected by me. My campaign is a broad coalition that welcomes Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. If elected President, there will be no red or blue states. Only the United States.”
Biden said Americans have a sacred duty — to vote.
“It matters. Pennsylvania matters,” he said. “So please vote. Help get out the vote. Return your ballot as soon as possible — make sure everyone you know does the same. There’s nothing beyond our capacity. There’s no limit to America’s future.
“The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Let’s show them who we are. We choose hope over fear. Unity over division. Science over fiction. And yes, truth over lies.
“So it’s time to stand up and take back our democracy.”
Notes from the scene
Additional vignettes from the event:
• “Jill may be a Philly guy, but I’m a Scranton guy,” he said.
• “Trump paid fifty times more taxes in Beijing than he did in the United States of America.”
• On Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns: “What in the hell is he hiding?”
• “Maybe it’s the Scranton in me,” he went on, describing the “chip on my shoulder” from being looked down on by the president
• “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t think big oil companies need a handout from the federal government,” he said. •“We’re going to get rid of the $40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies and we’re going to invest in clean energy and carbon capture.”
Bon Jovi’s performance
Bon Jovi, in a leather jacket, began at 4:22 p.m., playing a short acoustic set with a guitarist and violinist.
Song list:
“Who Says You Can’t Go Home?”
“Livin’ on a Prayer”
“Do What You Can”
Bon Jovi spoke briefly between the second and third songs, noting it’s his first drive-in show with fans in their cars honking, reading from some notes.
“When I think of empathy, character and experience…I think of Joe Biden,” he said.
Listening to “the TV and the rallies,” he says “I always hear a lot of me, me, me…but I really do believe Joe believes in the power of we.”
“After we get Joe in office, that’s when the healing starts.”
“I know you won’t forget, but get out and vote,” the singer implored the crowd before leaving the stage.
Big crowd
Some 232 cars were counted, some pulled right up to the stage and most others parked all the way down the long sloping parking lot. Lots of honking.
President Obama’s live remarks in Miami served as the warm-up, playing on video monitors hoisted above trucks and booming from speakers until he finished around 4:10.
Meanwhile, VP Biden was inside the school doing two local news interviews. His motorcade pulled up behind the stage around 4:15.
The motorcade rolled past a few groups of sign-waving supporters lining the road, with a few Trump backers mixed in. A much bigger group of Trump supporters, holding signs and flags, was stationed just outside the high school, chanting “Go home, Joe!” as he passed.