The autoworker who confronted former Vice President Joe Biden during a campaign stop in Michigan Tuesday broke his silence on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning to tell the network that he felt Biden went “off the deep end” during their conversation, and that he was shocked at Biden’s aggressive behavior.
Jerry Wayne, who works at the Fiat-Chrysler plant that Biden visited to campaign for blue collar votes ahead of Tuesday’s all-important Michigan primary, says he wasn’t sure the former Veep would even take questions, but was prepared to ask him about the Second Amendment, regardless.
“I also asked him how he wanted to get the vote of the working man when a lot of us, we wield arms. We bear arms and we like to do that. And if he wants to give us work and take our guns, I don’t see how he is going to get the same vote,” Wayne told Fox & Friends.
In a now-infamous video of the incident, Biden gets visibly angry at the question and begins berating Wayne, calling him a “horse’s a**,” threatening to slap Wayne, and telling Wayne he’s “full of sh**.”
“You’re full of sh**,” Biden says. “I support the Second Amendment.”
But Biden also seemed to struggle with his own proposed gun control policies, referring to “AR-14s” rather than AR-15s, calling the weapon a “machine gun,” and suggesting it could hold “100 rounds” and that it was already illegal.
The confrontation really got heated when Wayne responded to Biden’s comments, telling the 2020 Democratic presidential contender, “[y]ou’re working for me, man.”
On Wednesday, Wayne described the conversation as heated, but told Fox News that he was surprised at Biden’s reaction.
“It was a little bit disturbing to see that a politician wants to take away my right to defend myself,” Wayne said. “He doesn’t need to touch anybody’s weapon at all. What we need to do is we need to concentrate on teaching people how to respect firearms and how to use them – not take them away.”
“I thought I was pretty articulate and respectful. I didn’t try to raise any feathers and he kind of just went off the deep end,” Wayne added.
“I mean, I guess technically speaking he can say whatever he wants,” Wayne said. “But, he was the vice president. He wants to be the president now. You are a candidate. You work for the American people. And, if you can’t understand that then you don’t deserve to have a leg in this race.”
Biden won the Michigan primary by less than expected, pulling down just 14% more than his rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), but the double-digit margin was enough for experts to suggest Sanders bow out of the race. Just four years ago, Sanders won Michigan in a surprise victory over then-presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, giving his supporters hope that the Vermont socialist could take the 2016 nomination fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention.
But even as Biden’s victory made headlines nationally, Biden’s confrontation with Wayne featured prominently on local news channels in Michigan, drowning out news of Biden’s success. That’s a rough break for the “moderate” Democratic candidate, who needs Michigan — and other blue collar, Rust Belt states — to pull out a win over President Donald Trump in November.