Speaking at a rally on Monday night in Long Beach, California, for embattled California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Tuesday, President Biden attacked Larry Elder, the leading GOP candidate to replace Newsom if he is recalled, calling Elder a “Trump clone.” He also accused “Trump Republicans” of blocking Democrats from “beating this pandemic.”
Biden started by bragging about Newsom, saying, “The reason I’m here and you all are here is to thank and support our friend Governor Gavin Newsom, one of the best governors in the country. California, I’m not sure if you know it, but if you didn’t know it, you should: the eyes of the nation, this is not hyperbole, the eyes of the nation are on California because the decision you are about to make isn’t just going to have a huge impact on California, it is gonna reverberate around the nation and quite frankly, not a joke, around the world.”
Then he turned to attacking Elder: “And here’s why: all of you know, the last year I got to run against the real Donald Trump. Well, this year the leading Republican running for governor is the closest thing to a Trump clone that I’ve ever seen in this state. No, I really mean it. And he’s leading the other team. He’s the clone of Donald Trump. Can you imagine him being the governor of this state? You can’t let that happen. There’s too much at stake.”
“And here’s why it’s so important for you all to vote no on the recall,” he lectured. “First, voting no will be protecting California from Trump Republicans trying to block us from beating this pandemic. Covid 19: Gavin Newsom has had the courage to lead, stand up for science, for the very thing he’s been one of the leading governors in the nation protecting people and vaccinating his state.”
Biden then attacked Republican governors, barking that they weren’t focused on public health, but politics instead: “Meanwhile, we see something else in parts of America. Right now, there are certain Republican governors like the governor of Mississippi who are talking to me about being dictatorial about demanding that people get vaccinated or tested. People are doing everything they can to block or undermine the lifesaving mandates that we’ve proposed. Putting their people at risk, putting their children at risk, putting their states at risk. And here’s the worst thing: for these Republican governors, it isn’t about public health, about telling it to the people. It’s about politics. “
“Look folks, just look at the hypocrisy,” he continued. ‘The same governors who are attacking me and your governor for Covid -9 mandates are in the states with some of the strictest vaccine mandates for children attending school in the whole country.”
Ignoring the fact that the disease he was about to mention profoundly affect children to a degree that the COVID-19 virus does not he snapped, “Talk about inconsistency: in Mississippi, children are required to get vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus and more. It’s a state requirement. But now, in the midst of this pandemic that has taken over 650,000 lives, I proposed a mandate for Covid 19 vaccines. It’s an outrage, it’s an infringement on freedom. Look, folks, we don’t need politics in this battle against Covid. We need science. We need courage. We need leadership. We need Gavin Newsom. …”
He added later, “Second, by voting no, you’ll be keeping a governor who respects women, instead of someone who wrote that women know less about politics and economics than men,” then boasted, “He hasn’t met my wife.”