Biden says Trump’s climate denial is the real threat to the suburbs

Democratic nominee Joe Biden called President Donald Trump a ‘climate arsonist,’ saying the president’s climate change denial is what’s really threatening the suburbs. 

‘Donald Trump warned integration is threatening our suburbs. That’s ridiculous. But you know what is actually threatening our suburbs?’ Biden said Monday outside the Delaware Museum of Natural History. ‘Wildfires are burning the suburbs in the west, floods are wiping out suburban neighborhoods in the midwest, hurricanes are imperiling suburban life along our coast.’   

Biden’s comments came as Trump was traveling to California to see damage from the wildfires and as the president has tried to push that his Democratic opponent would ‘destroy’ the suburbs, pointing to an Obama-era fair housing rule. 

In Wilmington, Biden opened up by pointing to the four concurrent crises that are happening under Trump’s watch: COVID-19 and the economic collapse that the pandemic caused, ’emboldend white supremacy’ and climate change. 

Biden told his small audience of reporters, who were kept separated by rings on the ground and told to wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, that Monday’s remarks would be dedicated to climate. 

‘We have to act as a nation,’ Biden implored. ‘It shouldn’t be so bad that millions of Americans live in the shadow of an orange sky and are left asking, is doomsday here?’   

Biden, again, ridiculed some of Trump’s anti-green energy rhetoric – such as his claim that windmills cause cancer and his complaint that eco-friendly lightbulbs turn him ‘orange.’ 

But the Democrat also warned just how bad it could be if Trump is re-elected.  

‘If he gets a second term these hellish events will become more common, more devastating and more deadly,’ Biden said. 

‘We have four more years of Trump’s climate denial, how many suburbs will be burned by wildfires? How many suburban neighborhoods will have been flooded out? How many suburbs will have been blown away in superstorms?’ Biden asked. 

‘To give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised when we had more of America ablaze?’ the former vice president said. 

Earlier Monday, the Democratic nominee and his wife Jill – who sported black knee-high Stuart Weitzman boots that spelled ‘VOTE’ down her calf – voted early in Delaware’s Democratic primary. 

Registered voters in the state could book a time to vote, allowing for proper social distancing. 

‘Vote. Vote. Vote,’ Biden said as he emerged from casting his ballot. 

He indicated that he had voted for Sen. Chris Coons in the Democratic Senate primary. 

‘I like Coons the best. He’s a great, great senator,’ Biden said. 

Coons had spoken on his behalf during last month’s Democratic National Convention.   

Biden was also asked if he had confidence that all votes would be counted in November. 

‘I have confidence that Trump will try to not have that happen, but I’m confident the American public is going to insist on it,’ the former vice president replied. 

Biden encouraged Americans to vote early and explained why he decided to cast his ballot in person a day before Delaware’s Tuesday primary.   

‘Because I’m going to be – where am I tomorrow?’ the candidate asked, directing the question toward his aides and his wife. 

‘Florida,’ Jill Biden answered, according to the pool report. 

The Democratic nominee will travel to Florida on Tuesday and then return to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Thursday before heading to Minnesota on Friday. 

‘I’m traveling tomorrow,’ Biden said. 

The Trump campaign quickly pushed out the video clip of Biden asking his wife and staff where he was headed, as more evidence that the 77-year-old is not all there. 

Both the Biden and Trump camps have questioned the fitness of the opposing presidential candidate, with team Biden showing Trump awkwardly tip-toeing down a ramp at West Point in June in pro-Biden ads.  

The Trump team has focused on Biden’s over-reliance on a teleprompter during his events.