前副总统兼民主党总统候选人乔·拜登周五称唐纳德·特朗普总统当天早些时候的评论是关于乔治·弗洛伊德从天上往下看，看到这个国家“伟大的一天”是“卑鄙的”
“在我谈到经济形势之前，我必须花一点时间谈谈总统今天上午所说的话。拜登在特拉华州多佛的一次新闻发布会上说:“特朗普总统在讲话的最后说，他希望，引用乔治·弗洛伊德的话来说，‘乔治·弗洛伊德向下看，看到这是我们国家伟大的一天。’”。
拜登补充道:“我们说的是一个被不必要的暴力行为和更大的不公正浪潮残忍杀害的人，这种不公正浪潮已经在这位总统的任期内蔓延开来，因为他基于种族、宗教和民族分裂了我们。”。“乔治·弗洛伊德的最后一句话，我不能呼吸，我不能呼吸，已经在这个国家回荡，也相当坦率地在全世界回荡。”
他继续说道:“对于总统来说，试图把任何其他的话放进乔治·弗洛伊德的嘴里，坦率地说，我认为是卑鄙的。”
特朗普在最后一分钟的新闻发布会上发表评论，讨论早上的工作报告。在特朗普表示州长们应该利用国民警卫队来“控制街道”以帮助平息抗议活动中引发的骚乱之后，他对弗洛伊德发表了评论。弗洛伊德是一名黑人，在阵亡将士纪念日被明尼苏达州一名白人警察制服后死亡。
特朗普从照本宣科的言论中补充道，“每一个美国人在执法的每一次遭遇中都得到平等待遇，无论种族、肤色、性别或信仰。”
拜登的批评是一场关于种族不公正的口水战和持续不断的抗议的最新一击，这些抗议已经激励了整个国家。
拜登周四晚上，他称赞美国是一个绝对“体面”的国家，但表示“有10%到15%的人”不是“非常好的人”
“总统说的话很重要。所以，当总统站起来，一直分裂人们时，你会让我们中最糟糕的人站出来。拜登周四晚上在一个虚拟的市政厅说。
“我们真的认为这是我们作为一个国家所能做到的最好的吗?我不认为大多数人会这么想。大概有10%到15%的人在那里，他们只是不是很好的人。但那不是我们。绝大多数人都是正派的。我们必须呼吁这一点，我们必须团结人们，让他们走到一起，”拜登补充道，重复了他本周早些时候在费城演讲时提出的一个反问。
2020年3月12日，乔·拜登在特拉华州威尔明顿的一次新闻发布会上谈到了COVID-19。
这一评论是在演员唐·钱德尔主持的一个有年轻美国人参加的市政厅会议上发表的，会议的大部分讨论集中在种族问题上，当时全国各地都在抗议警察在明尼阿波利斯杀害乔治·弗洛伊德。
拜登的评论与过去候选人的评论形成了对比，后者以更具煽动性的方式概括了一部分人。
在2012年的选举中，共和党总统候选人米特·罗姆尼在一次筹款活动中的评论被录像，暗示47%的人口不缴纳所得税“依赖于政府”并感到“有权享受医疗保健、食物、住房、随便你怎么说”，这引起了对现任参议员的广泛批评。
2016年，前国务卿希拉里·克林顿因声称当时的一半候选人唐纳德·特朗普美国的支持者符合“一篮子可恨的东西”民主党总统候选人克林顿随后发表声明称，她的描述是“错误的”，但仍谴责特朗普阵营与各种“极右”团体的联系。
拜登开始了周四晚上的讨论，听取了几位年轻的黑人社区领袖询问拜登的政策议程，承认他作为白人在美国社会享有的特权。
“我是白人。我想我明白，但我感觉不到。我是说我感觉到了，但是我不知道当一个黑人走在街上被人搭讪是什么感觉。对于一个走在街上被逮捕的黑人来说，做一个走在街上的黑人，上帝保佑我不要发生更糟糕的事情，”拜登说。
这位前副总统承诺今后将举行类似的会谈，他在本周早些时候的一次演讲中重申了一些观点，此前一个周末的抗议活动因暴力和抢劫的爆发而受到破坏。
“仇恨不是从唐纳德·特朗普开始的。他不会结束的。我们国家的历史不是童话，”拜登说。“我们正在为这个国家的灵魂而战，200多年来，这个国家一直在推来推去。我打电话给每一个美国人，问他们自己，问他们下面的问题——这就是我们是谁，我们现在看到的是什么?这是我们想要的吗?这是我们将传给我们的孩子和孙子的吗?”
特朗普总统经常被指责在他执政的三年多时间里煽动分裂，最近一次是因为他决定将和平抗议者赶出白宫前的公园，以便让他穿过街道去圣约翰教堂拍照，该教堂在上周的抗议活动中被部分点燃。
总统为这一受到广泛谴责的决定进行了辩护周四发了一封微博由他的前律师约翰·多德写给前国防部长吉姆·马蒂斯的信中称白宫外的抗议者是“不真实的”和“恐怖分子”
特朗普也经常使用煽动种族紧张的言辞在他的整个竞选和三年总统任期内，他在2017年受到了严厉的批评，当时他说在弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔的一次白人至上主义集会上，冲突双方都有“非常好的人”。
Biden, criticizing Trump’s rhetoric, says about ‘10 to 15 percent’ of 'people out there' are 'just not very good people’
Former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday called President Donald Trump's comments earlier in the day aboutGeorge Floydlooking down from heaven and seeing a "great day" for the country were "despicable."
"Before I speak to the economic situation, I have to take a moment to address something that the president said this morning. Toward the end of his remarks, President Trump said that he hopes that, quote, 'George Floyd is looking down and seeing this is a great day for our country,'" Biden said at a news briefing in Dover, Delaware.
"We’re speaking of a man who was brutally killed by an act of needless violence and by a larger tide of injustice that has metastasized on this president’s watch as he’s moved to split us based on race and religion, ethnicity," Biden added. "George Floyd's last words, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, have echoed all across this nation and quite frankly around the world."
He continued: "For the president to try to put any other words in the mouth of George Floyd I frankly think is despicable."
Trump made the comments during a last-minute news conference to discuss the morning's job report. His remarks about Floyd -- a black man who died on Memorial Day after he was pinned down by a white Minnesota police officer-- came after Trump said governors should use the National Guard to "dominate the streets" to help quell unrest sparked during protests over the man's death.
Trump, added from scripted remarks that "every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement regardless of race, color, gender, or creed."
Biden's criticism is the latest salvo in a war of words over racial injustice and ongoing protests that have galvanized the nation.
Bidenpraised America as an overwhelmingly “decent” nation Thursday night, but said that there are “10 to 15% of the people out there” that are “just not very good people.”
“The words a president says matter. So when the President stands up and divides people all the time, you're going to get the worst of us to come out. The worst in us all to come out,” Biden said Thursday evening during a virtual town hall.
“Do we really think this is as good as we can be as a nation? I don't think the vast majority of people think that. There are probably anywhere from 10 to 15% of the people out there, they're just not very good people. But that's not who we are. The vast majority of people are decent. We have to appeal to that and we have to unite people, bring them together," Biden added, echoing a rhetorical question he asked during his speech earlier this week in Philadelphia.
Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 during a press event in Wilmington, Delaware, March 12, 2020.
The comment came amid a town hall with Young Americans hosted by actor Don Cheadle, in which much of the discussion focused on race, in the midst of protests across the country of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Biden’s comments have drawn parallels with past candidate comments have generalized a portion of the population in more incendiary ways.
During the 2012 election, videotaped comments of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney at a fundraiser suggesting that47% of the population does not pay income taxes, are "dependent on the government" and feel "entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it,” created wide-spread criticism of the now-Senator.
In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton garnered criticism for saying that half of then-candidateDonald Trump’s supporters fit into a “basket of deplorables.” Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, later issued a statement saying her characterization was “wrong” but still condemned what he argued were the Trump campaign’s connections to various “alt-right” groups.
Biden began Thursday night’s discussion, which heard from several young black community leaders who asked Biden about his policy agenda, with an acknowledgement of the privileges he is afforded in American society as a white man.
“I'm a white man. I think I understand, but I can't feel it. I mean I feel it, but I don't know what it's like to be a black man walking down the street and be accosted. To a black man walking down the street be arrested, be a black man walking down the street and God forbid something worse happened to me,” Biden said.
The former vice president, who pledged to hold similar conversations in the future, echoed some of the sentiment from a speech he gave earlier this week following a weekend of protests that were marred by outbursts of violence and looting.
“Hate didn't begin with Donald Trump. It's not gonna end with him. The history of our country is not a fairy tale,” Biden said. “We're in a battle for the soul of this nation that has been a constant push and pull for over 200 years. I call every American to ask themselves, ask them the following-- is this who we are, what we're seeing now? Is this we want to be? Is this what we will pass on to our kids and our grandkids?”
President Trump has often been accused of stoking division during his over three years in office, most recently for his decision to clear out peaceful protesters from a park in front of the White House in order for him to walk across the street for a photo op at St. John’s Church, which was partially set on fire during protests last week.
The president has defended the decision, which was widely condemned, andtweeted a letter Thursdaywritten by his former attorney John Dowd addressing former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that labeled the protesters outside the White House "not real" and "terrorists."
Trump has also often usedrhetoric that stokes racial tensionthroughout his campaign and three years as president, and came under heavy criticism in 2017 when he said there were “very fine people on both sides” of clashes in Charlottesville, Va. during a white supremacist rally.
