Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday night for questioning potential running mate Tammy Duckworth’s patriotism, calling it ‘disgusting’ and ‘sickening.’
The former vice president did not mince words when it came to his rival for the White House, saying Trump was carried ‘around like a puppy in one of those little puppy cages’ by Russian President Vladimir Putin and calling Trump’s attacks on Duckworth a sign of the ‘depravity’ in the White House.
Duckworth, the Democratic senator from Illinois who lost both legs while serving as a combat pilot in Iraq, is being vetted as Biden’s running mate and he offered an impassioned defense of her during a virtual fundraiser.
‘Thank you, Tammy. You’re the best. I love you,’ Biden said after she introduced him.
He praised her moral and physical courage. ‘I can’t think of anyone who has shown more courage of both kinds. I really mean it Tammy,’ he said. ‘I’m grateful for you here with me in this fight.’
Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday night for questioning potential running mate Tammy Duckworth’s patriotism
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois lost both legs while serving as a combat pilot in Iraq in 2004; she’s being vetted as Joe Biden’s running mate
Joe Biden called President Trump’s questioning of Tammy Duckworth’s patriotism ‘disgusting’ and ‘sickening’ and a sign of the ‘depravity’ in White House
Biden then went on to slam President Trump, whose targeted her patriotism when he tweeted a video of Fox News host Tucker Carlson questioning just that. Trump’s campaign followed up with a statement criticizing Duckworth for using her military service to ‘deflect from her support for the left-wing campaign to villainize America’s founding.’
‘I can’t tell you how I felt today when I heard the President of the United States Donald Trump questioning your patriotism,’ Biden said. ‘I found it virtually disgusting, sickening. I know you can handle yourself. I said, I’m glad I wasn’t standing next to him. You said you can handle yourself. You already have. You’ve done that.’
He called it a reflection of the ‘depravity’ in the White House.
‘I just think it’s a reflection of the depravity of what’s going on in the White House right now,’ he noted.
He also attacked Trump for ‘coddling’ Russian President Vladimir Putin while criticizing Duckworth.
‘While in fact he’s coddling Putin – Putin carries him around like a puppy in one of those little puppy cages. While that’s going on he attacks – he attacks the Senator from Illinois, who is a literal hero – combat veteran lost both legs fighting for her country and he says she’s not a patriot. Folks we cannot let this stand,’ Biden said.
During his online event, Biden also attacked President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and noted how the president’s language and word choice resulted in attacks on Asian Pacific Americans. The fundraiser was called the ‘American Asian & Pacific Islander Virtual Event’ and hosted by prominent Asian Americans Duckworth, actor BD Wong, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Duckworth also attacked Trump during the event, criticizing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his defending Confederate monuments.
‘Instead of trying to bring our country back together, he spent his time defending dead Confederates who took up arms against this nation and engaging in xenophobic and racist language geared towards many Americans, including the Asian American and Pacific Islander community,’ she said of the president.
Duckworth has been in the spotlight of late as her stock in the running mate race has risen. Tucker Carlson questioned her patriotism on Monday night when he excoriated her for comments calling for study and dialogue about whether statues of George Washington should be taken down.
‘Does @TuckerCarlson want to walk a mile in my legs and then tell me whether or not I love America?’ Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill) asked on Twitter Monday
Tammy Duckworth at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in December 2004 when she was awarded her Purple Heart
Duckworth committed what many analysts consider a political flub when she entertained the idea of taking down statues of the nation’s first president, who also owned slaves.
‘You’re not supposed to criticize Tammy Duckworth in any way because she once served in the military,’ Carlson said on his show Monday night. ‘Most people just ignore her. But when Duckworth does speak in public, you’re reminded what a deeply silly and unimpressive person she is,’ he continued.
‘It’s long been considered out of bounds to question a person’s patriotism. It’s a very strong charge, and we try not ever to make it. But in the face of all of this, the conclusion can’t be avoided. These people actually hate America. There’s no longer a question about that,’ he continued.
But Duckworth fired back after his show aired Monday evening.
‘Does @TuckerCarlson want to walk a mile in my legs and then tell me whether or not I love America?’ she asked on Twitter.
‘These people actually hate America,’ Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a monologue where he blasted Sen. Duckworth, a double amputee injured in the Iraq War
Then a captain in the Illinois Army National Guard, Tammy Duckworth stands by her UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Now a U.S. senator, Duckworth would spend 23 years in the Illinois Army National Guard retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade on Nov. 12, 2004. Duckworth lost both legs and partial use of her right arm in the explosion and received a Purple Heart for her combat injuries
Duckworth hit back at Carlson Monday night for his comments
Duckworth is on a list of potential Joe Biden vice presidential running mates
President Trump tweeted out clips of Carlson’s show without adding further comment
Duckworth was a member of Illinois National Guard when she was deployed to Iraq in 2004.
On November 12, 2004, she lost her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee from injuries sustained when the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents.
She was the first American female double amputee from the Iraq War and received the Purple Heart for her service.
On Tuesday morning, President Trump tweeted out an extended clip including Carlson’s Monday night monologue about the subject, which followed Trump’s speech at Mt. Rushmore, where he inveighed against ‘far-left fascism’ and ‘left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.’
Appearing on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ Sunday, Duckworth hedged when asked whether statues from founders like Washington and Jefferson who owned slaves should come down.
She has already called for renaming Army bases that bear the names of confederate generals – a sharp contrast with President Trump, who has called out what he says are attempts destroying the nation’s heritage, and who even criticized NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag.
‘Well let me just say that we should start off by having a national dialogue on it at some point, but right now we’re in the middle of a global pandemic,’ Duckworth said, ‘and one of our countries who are opposed to us, Russia, has put a bounty on American troops’ heads,’ she said. ‘What really struck me about the speech that the president gave at Mount Rushmore was that he spent more time worried about honoring dead Confederates than he did talking about the lives of 130,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19 or by warning Russia off of the bounty they’re putting on Americans’ heads.’
‘He spent all his time talking about dead traitors,’ the Illinois senator said.
Pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash on whether taking down statues of Washington was a good idea, she responded: ‘I think we should listen to everybody,’ she said. ‘I think we should listen to the argument there,’ before turnign back to Trump’s comments at Mt. Rushmore, which she said was on land that was ‘stolen from Native Americans.’
Trump did not append any of his own comments to the clip of Carlson.
But his campaign put out a statement later in the day.
‘After saying she was open to tearing down statues of George Washington, Tammy Duckworth is now using her military service to deflect from her support for the left-wing campaign to villainize America’s founding. If she can’t defend George Washington, our first Commander-in-Chief, those of us who still respect our Founding Fathers’ immense sacrifice and think America is worth fighting for will hold her accountable for cowering to the far-left fascists in the Democrat Party,’ the campaign said.