President Donald Trump billed his trip to Ohio on Thursday as a chance to promote economic recovery, but he quickly pivoted to a deeply personal attack on Joe Biden, even questioning without foundation the former Vice-President’s faith in God.
Even for a President known for his blunt criticism, Trump’s remarks stood out and they signalled how contentious the campaign may get over the coming months.
“He’s following the radical Left agenda, take away your guns, destroy your 2nd Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God. He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy, our kind of energy. I don’t think he’s going to do too well in Ohio,” Trump said.
Biden called the remarks beneath the office he holds. “For President Trump to attack my faith is shameful,” Biden said. Trump also used his trip to Ohio to talk trade, telling workers at a Whirlpool plant, “I will stand up to the foreign trade cheaters and violators that hate our country.”
Trump also sought to remind voters of the economic prosperity that much of the nation enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic.