Washington: Mounting one of his most scathing attacks against Donald Trump, former US Vice President Joe Biden said the President’s narcissism has become more important than the nation’s well-being.
“He thinks division helps him,” Biden said in a speech at Philadelphia’s City Hall. “This narcissism has become more important than the nation’s well-being.”
Bashing Trump’s handling of the riots in the country following the murder of an African-American George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said: “the American people can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle, more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.”
Biden’s comments came after police used tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters near the White House so that Trump, after finishing a speech during which he threatened to send in the military to quell the escalating chaos, could visit the St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he stood for a photo op.
Taking further digs at Trump for brandishing the Bible outside St John’s Church, Biden said the US President could have “learned something” from it rather than posing with it.
Protests over the death of George Floyd have escalated over the past week.
Dozens of people have been injured as authorities used tear gas and force to disperse protests which have swept more than 75 cities.
Four officers meanwhile were shot and injured on Monday night during unrest in St Louis, Missouri.
