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On Tuesday, the former vice US President Joe Biden attacked President Trump during a press conference and called for American unity. The Democratic nominee for the 2020 Presidential election heavily criticized Trump’s handling of the George Floyd protests. He said the entire Trump administration treated demonstrators badly while sympathizing with the anger and rage of the US public. He said the US President should care all of us, not just those who voted him. Biden said, “The president held up the Bible at St. John’s church. I wish he’d open it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he did, he’d see that we’re all called to love each other as we love ourselves. It is hard work but it’s the work of America”.

Biden earlier said that Americans weren’t looking for a revolution. He called on protesters in cities across the country to unify and focus on building a better future together. He pointed out that if Trump is not reelected, the problems that caused the protests in the first place existed long before Trump’s inauguration. Biden said, “Hate didn’t begin with Trump and it won’t end with him. American history isn’t a fairy tale with a guaranteed happy ending”. He also called on Trump to open the US Constitution once in a while, encouraging him to review the First Amendment and its protections on speech and assembly, instead of threatening to use the US military to crush protesters.

The former vice president pointed out that America’s character is built not only on the grand ideals of Democracy and justice, but also on negative attributes, slavery, oppression, and racism. There will always be a battle between those two elements of American identity. Biden said, “We can’t ignore the truth that we’re at our best when we open our hearts rather than when we clench our fists”. He affirmed to take responsibility if he is elected as the US President but reminded people that no one including him will get things right all of the time. He said the President should be part of the solution, not the problem.