Ole’ Joe was just himself and at home with just regular people….
And most of all…
Sincere….
Biden’s CNN town hall came two days after Donald Trump held a similar event in nearby Philadelphia, but the president sent a very different message on the pandemic, once again implausibly suggesting coronavirus was “going to disappear” and that a vaccine would be available in weeks.
Biden’s unusual town hall venue underscored the long road ahead the country faces. Biden addressed an audience of about 250 voters, some of whom sat in camping chairs next to their parked cars as the former vice-president took their questions. “Who knew drive-ins were coming back?” the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper joked at the start of the event.
Echoing comments he made during a Wednesday speech, Biden said he did not trust Trump’s statements on the development of a coronavirus vaccine, accusing the president of politicizing the issue for the sake of his re-election.
“I don’t trust the president on vaccines. I trust Dr Fauci,” Biden said, referring to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “If Fauci says the vaccine is safe, I’d take the vaccine. We should listen to the scientists, not to the president.”
Biden’s comments were a notable contrast to Trump’s clash this week with Dr Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The president questioned Redfield’s credibility on Wednesday, after the CDC director testified to the Senate that a coronavirus vaccine would not be widely available until the late second quarter or early third quarter of next year. Trump claimed Redfield was “confused” when he made that prediction.