Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took aim at President Donald Trump's values and economic policy during a drive-in style rally at a United Auto Workers Hall in Toledo Monday.
“I don't respect people based on whether they own a mansion,” Biden said. “I don't judge them based on whether they belong to a country club. You and I measure people by the strength of their character.”
Biden often made the connection between his hometown of Scranton, Pa., and Toledo as having similar values and goals, pointing out those with whom he grew up didn’t have money in the stock market, and all the money they made went to necessities.
Biden accused Trump of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic to instead further his economic goals.
“Experts say we're likely to lose another 200,000 people in the next few months unless we take some serious action, and [Trump] doesn't know what he's doing,” Biden said. “All because this president's only worried about one thing: the stock market.”
Biden spent much of his time praising union workers and criticized Trump for telling General Motors workers not to sell their houses in Lordstown. The plant was unallocated in March 2019 and eventually sold to electric startup Lordstown Motors.
“But Donald Trump's betrayal doesn't stop there,” Biden said. “He betrayed union workers at Goodyear when he called for a boycott of buying Goodyear tires because of a personal grudge.”
Ohio Republicans rejected Trump’s Goodyear boycott tweet in the social media dispute over a supposed company training slide identifying Trump memorabilia, such as Make America Great Again hats, as unacceptable workplace attire. Goodyear later said the slide was not created or distributed by the company.
Biden said his administration would focus on infrastructure.
“Roads, bridges, ports, 1.5 million new affordable housing units, high speed broadband in every American household, more important than ever,” Biden said. “We're going to rebuild crumbling schools, retrofit 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes, creating 1 million new jobs.
“[That’s the] reason why everyone from the electrical workers and every other major union is strongly supporting this,” he said. “And it's all going to be done by certified union labor. Promise!”
Biden was introduced by longtime Toledo Rep. Marcy Kaptur. The former vice president is set to speak in Cincinnati Monday evening.
Current
Vice President Mike Pence was in Ohio on Monday as well, campaigning for his and Trump’s re-election at Columbus concrete contractor Nickolas Savko & Sons.
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