Taking aim at Trump, Biden to pledge he ‘won’t fan the flames of hate’

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Joe Biden holds event at historically black church in Wilmington, Delaware

2020 presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden meets with local leaders amid the George Floyd protests; Peter Doocy reports.

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday will call the protests sparked by George Floyd’s death that have raged across the country in the past week “a wake-up call for our nation.”

According to excerpts of a speech he will deliver in Philadelphia, that were released in advance by his campaign, the presumptive Democratic nominee will also criticize President Trump as being “more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.”

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Biden – who’s traveling outside of his home state of Delaware for the first time in two-and-a-half months since the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country – will deliver his comments from the Philadelphia City Hall. His speech comes one week after protests started to flare in cities across the nation following Floyd's death, who died May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis.

The incident and the resulting peaceful protests, as well as violent clashes and rioting, quickly pushed longstanding concerns over police brutality against minorities and the broader issue of the country’s history of racism firmly back into the national spotlight.

Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to members of the clergy and community leaders at Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del., Monday, June 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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Biden, who’s spoken out numerous times since the death of Floyd, will spotlight Floyd’s last words – “I can’t breathe” – which were recorded by a bystander.

“George Floyd’s last words. But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation,” Biden will say. “They speak to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk. They speak to a nation  where more than 100,000 people have lost their lives to a virus and 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment – with a disproportionate number of these deaths and job losses concentrated in the black and minority communities.”

And he will stress that Floyd’s words “speak to a nation where every day millions of people – not at the moment of losing their life, but in the course of living their life – are saying to themselves, “I can’t breathe."

The former vice president’s speech comes the morning after federal authorities in the nation’s capital – some using tear gas – cleared demonstrators near the White House to allow President Trump to walk to a church that was damaged after delivering a law and order speech to the nation regarding the unrest. Critics of the president slammed Trump for ordering force to disperse the crowd so he could have a “photo op” – but some supporters backed his move against what they called “professional agitators.”

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Biden, in his speech, will stress that “when peaceful protestors are dispersed by the order of the president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House— using tear gas and flash grenades— in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle.”

And the former vice president will acknowledge that “the presidency is a big job. Nobody will get everything right. And I won’t either.”

Taking aim at Trump without saying his name, he’ll add: “I promise you this. I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate. I will seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued this country – not use them for political gain. I’ll do my job and take responsibility. I won’t blame others. I’ll never forget that the job isn’t about me.”