Democratic National Convention 2020: Day 4

Joe Biden said his economic plan is built on lessons he learned from his father, who told him that the importance of a job is about "being able to look your kid in the eye and say it's going to be OK, and mean it."

Biden touted his "build back better" plan, which would seek to inject stimulus spending into the economy to create union jobs in clean energy and manufacturing and would seek to create jobs in what his campaign has called the "caregiving economy."

"And yes, we're going to do more than praise our essential workers. We're finally going to pay them," he said.

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After running through the staggering toll to date of the coronavirus, Joe Biden said here’s no need for guessing about what comes next if Trump is reelected in November.

The “assault on the Affordable Care Act will continue,” Biden added, “until it’s destroyed.”

Setting the stakes moments earlier, Biden said that “character,” “compassion,” “decency,” “sincerity,” and – echoing Obama from Wednesday night – “democracy” were all on the ballot this year.

“And the choice could not be more clear,” he said. “No rhetoric is needed.”

Joe Biden laid out his plan to combat coronavirus on Thursday, telling voters that President Donald Trump has “failed in his most basic duty” to protect Americans from the virus.

Ever since the first cases of coronavirus broke out in the United States earlier this year, the 2020 campaign has been dominated by the pandemic, forcing both Biden and Trump to pivot their campaigns to the issue.

Biden dedicated a significant portion of his acceptance speech on Thursday to how he, as president, would combat the virus.

Biden, in a stark rebuke of Trump, said he would deploy rapid tests for the virus, make personal protective equipment in the United States “so we will never again be at the mercy of China or other foreign countries,” make sure that schools have the resources they need to reopen and “put politics aside, take the muzzle off our experts.”

Biden also pledged to impose a “national mandate to wear a mask.”

“In short, we will do what we should have done from the very beginning,” Biden said. “Our current president has failed in his most basic duty. … That is unforgivable.”

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Joe Biden took a moment during his nomination acceptance speech to thank former President Barack Obama saying, "You were a great president."

Biden, who served two terms alongside Obama, said children could look up to Obama, adding that they can't do that with President Trump.

"A president our children could and did look up to. No one's going to say that about the current occupant of the White House," Biden said.

Joe Biden criticized President Trump and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying "no miracle is coming."

Biden's comments were in direct response to a refrain from Trump that the virus is "going to disappear," as he said on Feb. 27.

"One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear," Trump told attendees at an African American History Month reception in the White House Cabinet Room.

Joe Biden said that if President Donald Trump is re-elected, "he'll be what he's been for the last four years," and asked Americans if that's what they want for their children.

Trump, Biden said, "takes no responsibility" and "fans the flames of hate and division."

In a second term, he said, "He'll wake up every day believing the job is all about him, never about you."

Joe Biden said on Thursday that the nation he hopes to lead is in the midst of “a perfect storm” of four pressing crises, portraying America as a nation in turmoil but with ability to overcome those issues.

“Now history has delivered us to one o the most difficult moments America has ever faced,” Biden said in his acceptance speech. “Four historic crises — all at the same time. A perfect storm.”

Those four issues, Biden said, were the coronavirus pandemic, the growing economic crisis, the call for racial justice and the threats of climate change. “The question for us is simple,” Biden said. “Are we ready? I believe we are.”

Biden said that no generation knows the issues it will be forced to confront, but he sought to take a positive outlook on the problems facing the country.

When Joe Biden accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, he said in Delaware that "united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America."

"The current president's cloaked American darkness for much too long," Biden said in an opening that targeted President Donald Trump.

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Joe Biden has officially accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic party.

“It is with great honor and humility that I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America," he said.

"I am a proud Democrat," Biden said, adding that he promises to be a president for all Americans. 

Biden was introduced by a video that went through the former vice president's life, and career, and highlighted his role as a father, husband and political leader.

Biden's children, Ashley Biden and Hunter Biden, spoke before their father accepted the nomination.

"He's been a great father, and we think he will be a great president," they continued.

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