Biden news: Call for unity at Gettysburg battlefield elicits angry response from Trump

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Biden calls Trump's Proud Boys comments a 'clarion call for white supremacists'

Joe Biden delivered what could be remembered as the signature speech of his 2020 campaign so far, calling on Americans to ditch the fierce partisanship that has gripped the nation during the Donald Trump era and “turn division into unity.”

Biden delivered his modern-day Gettysburg-style address on the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania on Tuesday after extending his nationwide polling lead over Donald Trump by 16 points, according to CNN. 

The Democratic nominee himself attacked Trump’s decision to return to the White House after just three nights in hospital on Monday, condemning his maskless appearance on the Truman Balcony as “macho” and lacking consideration for a virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.

Prior to appearing on an NBC town hall, Biden was speaking to Latino voters in Miami, where he called on Trump to 'listen to the scientists' while calling for a nationwide mask mandate.  

The results of Biden's most recent coronavirus test, meanwhile, were negative. If he remains Covid free, and the president recovers, the two are on a collision course for the second debate on 15 October.

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Key Points

• 'There's no place for hate in America': Biden pleads for national unity at site of Gettysburg
• Challenger extends nationwide polling lead to 16 points in new poll
• Michelle Obama lashes out at Trump in ‘closing argument’ video
• Biden attacks Trump over ‘macho’ mask aversion on White House return
• Democrat tells Trump to 'listen to the scientists’ to contain coronavirus

[6 October 2020 09:20 · Gino Spocchia]

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

[6 October 2020 09:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

Biden attacks Trump over ‘macho’ mask aversion on White House return

Joe Biden has criticised Donald Trump’s decision to return to the White House after just three nights in hospital on Monday, condemning his maskless appearance on the Truman Balcony as “macho” and lacking consideration for a virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.

“Be patriotic, for God's sake", the Democratic nominee told the president during an NBC town hall with Lester Holt, adding that anyone refusing to wear a mask was “responsible for what happens to them".

Trump effectively discharged himself from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland on Monday, arriving back via Marine One and posing for pictures on the balcony.

The president claimed to be in rude health was seen visibly struggling for breath, prompting many to assume all is not what it seems.

His physician, Dr Sean Conley, had said earlier in the day that Trump “is not out of the woods yet”.

The grandstanding was derided by commentators as the posturing of an “American Mussolini”.

[6 October 2020 10:40 · Joe Sommerlad]

Challenger denounces president’s ‘clarion call’ to white supremacists

The former vice president also condemned Mr Trump’s “clarion call” to white supremacists during last week’s head-to-head debate in Ohio when he told the far-right collective Proud Boys to “stand down and stand by” and promised to put abortion rights into legislation when asked by an audience member.  

Graeme Massie has this report.

[6 October 2020 11:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Biden tells Trump to 'listen to the scientists' and calls for nationwide mask mandate 

Prior to his appearance on NBC, the Democratic challenger was in Miami speaking to Latino voters in Little Havana.

Welcoming the news of his opponent’s highly-suspicious miracle recovery, Biden said: “Now that he's busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask him to do this: listen to the scientists. Support masks. Support mandates nationwide. Require masks in every federal building facility and interstate travel. Urge every governor to do the same. We know it saves lives.”

The candidate also noted that Covid-19 has acutely afflicted the nation’s Hispanic population: 37 per cent of Americans who have died from the virus are Spanish-speaking.

“This pandemic has just helped us rip off the blinders in this country, and how inequitable so many things are,” he observed.

Here’s Griffin Connolly’s report.

[6 October 2020 12:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Biden capitalising on Trump’s isolation to hit critical swing states

Although the candidate has gallantly dropped his attack ads criticising the president while he is ill, he has ramped up his own touring schedule to target key battleground states - capitalising on his opponent’s temporary obscurity to boost his own case for the Oval Office.

[6 October 2020 12:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

Dr Jill Biden pulls husband back from reporters to maintain social distancing

In a cute moment from the campaign trail yesterday, the aspiring first lady deftly tugged her husband back from a throng of pressmen to ensure he kept the proper distance.

Now that’s how you set an example.

Speaking of Jill, this picture deserves a wider audience.

Graeme Massie has this report.

[6 October 2020 13:40 · Joe Sommerlad]

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence will debate with plexiglass shield between them

The move for extra protection at Wednesday’s vice presidential debate from Salt Lake City, Utah, came after a request from the Biden-Harris campaign in the wake of President’ Trump’s positive test in the days following his bad-tempered encounter with Biden in Cleveland, Ohio, a week ago.

A decision to install the shield between Harris and Pence was made by the Commission on Presidential Debates in consultation with medical experts from the Cleveland Clinic.

[6 October 2020 14:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Challenger extends nationwide polling lead to 16 points in new poll

Joe Biden has extended his nationwide polling lead over Donald Trump to 16 percentage points, according to CNN, which places the men on 57 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

The survey was conducted after the first presidential debate a week ago and partially after the president’s coronavirus diagnosis emerged on Friday morning.

[6 October 2020 14:40 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump aide attacks Biden for not having had coronavirus

With White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany testing positive yesterday and resting up, Trump 2020 press communications director Erin Perrine stepped into the breach yesterday and made a very stupid argument indeed for why the Covid-denier-in-chief now has an advantage over his Democratic rival.

[6 October 2020 15:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Voters in Pennsylvania and Florida ‘repelled’ by Trump in first debate, new poll finds

Well, can you blame them?

Here’s a little more on the president shooting himself in the foot once again through his boorish interruptions in Ohio and handing Biden an advantage in two of the most crucial of swing states.