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Former VP Biden talks Trump, ‘new republicans’

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | Dec 30, 2019

MILFORD – Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden held a town hall-style meeting in Milford on Sunday night.

The former vice president was introduced by Senator Shannon Chandley (D-NH), who represents the New Hampshire Senate District 11 in Milford.

Biden told the crowd, gathered at Milford Middle School, that Granite Staters have a firm grasp of the role they play in having the first-in-the-nation primary, which is now just 42 days away.

“I was in Peterborough and I started off by saying that people in other states don’t understand the Iowa caucus or you being the first primary in the country,” he shared. “I said, ‘there’s a simple answer: You all take it very seriously.’ You think beyond the box. You sort of have a gate, and only let a couple of us get through.”

Biden was candid in saying the election isn’t just about winning the nomination, it’s about who can beat Donald Trump.

“You look at everything,” he continued. “From whether or not that person can win, or if they can win, can they bring along Democratic senators and representatives. Can they help candidates in states that we should win like North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Arizona. These are states that we have a chance to win. And we have to win back the senate — we can’t just win the presidency. If we don’t win back the senate, we’re going to make it awfully hard for the next president.”

Biden’s speech was briefly interrupted by a trojan horse of sorts, as three individuals shouted, without cohesion, about his record and reputation.

“This is a democracy,” he noted of the interlopers.

“Excuse me, Mr. Biden,” one man asked. “How much money did you make in Ukraine with your son?”

“I released 28 years of my tax returns,” Biden replied. “Your guy hasn’t released one. What’s he hiding?

After further outbursts, Biden added, “That’s what I’m talking about — restoring the soul of the people.”

Back on track, Biden said he’s learned three things — including that Trump doesn’t want him to become the Democratic nominee.

“Polls show that Xi Jinping of China is more respected than our own president,” Biden said. “And he’s just above the leader of Russia.”

Biden said Trump has spent more than $12 million on attack ads against him.

“I wonder why,” he said. “And why doesn’t Putin want me to be president? Because I know him.”

He added, “I refuse to accept that we remain in a professional state of war with the opposition. We can’t function that way. We have to move beyond that.”

Biden’s foes have said the 77-year-old candidate doesn’t understand the Trump Republicans.

“I understand them very well,” he said. “I don’t think there is anybody who has been on the short-end of their attacks the way that I have.”

After a family meeting, Biden said he got the go-ahead from his children and grandchildren.

“They said, ‘Pop, you gotta run,'” he relayed. “And I was thinking of not running because I knew it was going to be this kind of campaign.”

Biden said he was running because the country needs to unify.

“Hate never goes away, it just hides,” he said. “In 2017, you saw people coming out of the fields carrying torches. Contorted faces, veins bulging. Literally, screaming and repeating the same antisemitic bile that was spoken in the streets of Germany in the ’30s. David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, when asked what he thought, he said, ‘That’s why we elected him.'”

And when the Trump was asked about the protest incident? Biden said, “He said ‘There were very fine people on both sides.’ No president has ever said anything like that! The closest that anybody ever came was Andrew Jackson, and that was before the civil war.”

Biden said, that Trump, “shocked the nation and stunned the world. We had leaders around the world saying, ‘What’s happening to America?'”

“And since then it’s been about dividing the country,” Biden stated. “Pinning us based on our ethnicity, our gender, our race, our religion. It has got to stop.”

Biden recently wrote an article for Atlantic magazine, saying, “we must restore the soul of America.”

“We have led the world not by the example of our power,” he said, “but by the power of our example.”

Biden added that democracy is not a guarantee.

“Every generation has to fight for it,” he said. “Every single generation has opened the aperture of inclusion more and more… And we have a long way to go and we can’t let this go on. I don’t believe that is who we are. That’s not who the American people are.”

Restoring the middle class was another issue that Biden pressed.

“This time bring everybody along,” he said. “Everybody. We have such enormous opportunities. We can do virtually anything. But we just have to get up and remember who we are. This is the United States of America. We’ve never, never, never failed once, no matter what the objective was, because we did it together. Think about what’s out there. Think about what we can do — from curing cancer to providing access to all kids for a decent education.”

Biden said he remains optimistic, despite the earlier interruption.

“This is not about me understanding the new Republicans,” he said. “This is about you. It’s about the American people. Presidents are supposed to represent everybody. Presidents can’t afford to hold grudges. Presidents have to reach out. And I think the country is ready. And it’s up to you to decide who among us, seeking the nomination, is the most ready to do this. That’s why I’m here.”

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