Joe Biden Lashes Into Trump for Fanning ‘the Flames of Hate’
Over the weekend and on Monday, Mr. Biden’s campaign advisers engaged in fluid and evolving deliberations about how best to wade back into public activity as Delaware lifts its stay-at-home order. Internal discussions about how to handle Mr. Biden’s public appearances are affected by fast-changing news developments that can lead to haphazard planning scrambles, according to people close to the campaign. Biden officials are also weighing the need for sensitivity to the fraught subject matter at hand, as well as ongoing health considerations for voters, staff and the candidate himself amid the pandemic.
“It’s a challenge to be in this kind of environment,” said Ms. Blunt Rochester on Sunday. “We have to be careful for him and for others, and so he will continue to listen to the science. And if there are places where he can be, like today, to get out there, be social distant — he had his mask, we were all careful, but it does change the way you campaign.”
On Sunday he spent much of his time listening — to passers-by, to business owners, and to her own experience as the mother of a black man, said Ms. Blunt Rochester.
“The moment right now is pivotal,” Ms. Blunt Rochester said. “The question is, what are we going to do? What are we going to do as a result of it? And so as he continues to build his platform, part of it is listening to people.”
Mr. Biden also spent part of Sunday calling mayors on the front lines of the crisis to offer encouragement. He spoke with Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul, Minn., his campaign confirmed. Mr. Biden asked after Mr. Carter’s family and offered his assistance, the mayor recalled in an interview.
“He asked me how I thought he could be supportive of the work we’re trying to lead nationally, and how he could be helpful in that space,” Mr. Carter said.
The mayor said that he had stopped using the term “recovery,” pressing the need for more transformational change on matters from health care to the economy. “January and February were not a state of stability for too many Americans,” he said.
