The fight is on, and Joe Biden just pulled off his gloves.
In interviews on Thursday, the Democratic presidential nominee accused Donald Trump and top Republicans of supporting and encouraging violence in the streets of America because they think it helps them politically.
“These guys are rooting for violence,” Biden told Anderson Cooper on CNN. “That is what it is all about.”
And to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Biden said that Trump views the recent violence “as a political benefit to him….”
“He’s rooting for more violence, not less, and it’s clear about that. And what’s he doing, he’s kept pouring gasoline on the fire.”
As evidence, Biden cited White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who was interviewed Thursday on Fox News.
“The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety,” Conway said, clearly meaning her soon-to-be-former boss. She is days away from stepping down, after 2 ½ years as one of Trump’s most trusted advisers.
Republicans have attacked Biden for the violence that has occurred alongside peaceful protests against police shootings of Black Americans, like Jacob Blake, shot seven times in the back on Sunday in Kenosha WI.
Mostly ignoring what provoked the protests, CNN says, the Trump allies chose instead to fault Biden “for not condemning looting quickly enough.”
Biden pushed back on Thursday, telling Cooper that he denounced violent protests “a long time ago” and adding that there is “no justification whatsoever for violence or looting.”
Biden underscored the fact that all of the violence Trump and others moan about is happening in “Donald Trump’s America.“
“They are just flat wrong,” Biden said, “as usual.”
All this came just hours before Trump was to deliver what was widely expected to be a fire-breathing speech from the White House grounds, concluding the Republican National Convention.
