Seeking votes in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary, former Vice President Joe Biden made his way through a thick crowd of hard-hatted automobile workers in Detroit, smiling and shaking hands. Then, he stopped when one worker asked Biden about why he wanted to take away his Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms.
Instead of calmly explaining his position on gun regulations, Biden became highly agitated very quickly, even shoving his finger in the questioner’s face.
Even over the noise of the large crowd, Biden could be heard shouting that what he would do is “take the AR-14s away,” (reminiscent of former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s promise in one Democratic debate, “Hell, yes, I’m coming for your AR-15s”). Biden even threatened to slap the man in the face and called him a “horse’s ass.” Despite a campaign aide’s effort to get Biden to move on, Biden persisted in his confrontation with the man.
“You’re full of s**t,” Biden told the man in response to his accusation that he was attacking the Second Amendment.
Ironically, the Fiat Chrysler automobile plant is the first new auto assembly plant built in Detroit in decades, which apparently many of the autoworkers credited to President Donald Trump. As Biden left the plant, several workers began to chant, “Trump, Trump, Trump.”
Trump won Michigan in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and if his reception at this auto plant is any indication, he might very well win it again in 2020.
While Biden claims to support the Second Amendment, he agrees with banning the AR-15, which Biden mistakenly referred to as an “AR-14,” in the latest of his almost daily gaffes. Biden also supports universal background checks for gun sales, and a new ban on what he calls “assault weapons” to replace the ban initiated by President Bill Clinton in the early 1990s, which was later allowed to expire by a Republican-controlled Congress.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) tweeted that Biden had “screamed” at a “patriot.”
“Joe: Gun owners see through your lies,” the NRA added.
Biden has a history of testy run-ins with potential voters who dare to disagree with him. Last year, when a man asked Biden about his son Hunter’s dealings with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, Biden called the man a “damn liar,” and called him “fat.” While Biden was vice president and President Barack Obama’s “point man” on Ukraine, Biden told the Ukrainians to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma for corruption, or he would cut off a billion-dollar loan guarantee from the United States. Ukraine complied and fired the prosecutor, and received the money. Yet, neither the Democrats nor their media allies seems to have the slightest interest in that story.
Recently, Biden became agitated at a question from a woman in New Hampshire about why he had such a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses. Biden then asked her if she had ever been to a caucus. When the woman indicated that she had, Biden called her a “lying dog-faced pony soldier.”
The campaign later said that it was a joke, that Biden was referring to a line from a 1950s John Wayne movie.
In 2018, Biden even said of President Donald Trump, “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.” Of course, Trump responded by tweeting that it would be Biden going down.
In addition to Biden’s bellicose remarks about Trump and his belligerence toward average citizens who disagree with him, he almost daily makes gaffes, such as his recent declaration that he was part of the “O’Biden-Bama administration.”
Biden’s frequent gaffes and repeated bouts of anger tend to overshadow his liberal positions on most issues (such as threatening to take away AR-15s). Because his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, is so openly far to the left, it makes Biden look like some sort of “moderate” in comparison.
But make no mistake. Biden is no moderate, either in his temper or his ideology.
Photo: AP Images
Steve Byas is a university instructor in history and government, and the author of History’s Greatest Libels. He may be contacted at [email protected].
