PHILADELPHIA _ Joe Biden took his plan for reopening the economy to the Philadelphia area on Wednesday, casting President Donald Trump as a reckless leader without a plan for containing the coronavirus or safely managing recovery.
"Donald Trump wants to style himself a wartime president against an invisible enemy _ the coronavirus," Biden said during a speech in Darby broadcast live on cable news stations. "But unlike any other wartime leader, he takes no responsibility, he exercises no leadership, and now he's surrendering the fight.
As restrictions begin to thaw and campaigning has resumed, Trump has looked to shift attention away from the virus and toward a return to normalcy while Biden has tried to keep the devastation of the pandemic _ and Trump's response to it _ front and center.
Biden has laid out detailed plans for reopening, and on Wednesday he met with four business owners at Carlette's Hideaway, a soul food restaurant and bar in Yeadon before the Darby speech.
Standing in front of an American flag in a municipal building, Biden accused Trump of ignoring science and declaring victory over the virus when cases are still spiking in some states. Pence on Monday wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying the administration's handling of the virus was cause for celebration. That's despite 750 people still dying of it every day, Biden said.
"That's greater than World War II level casualties each month," Biden said. "That's more than five 9/11's each month. And this administration is self-congratulating? That may be good enough for Donald Trump, but it will never, ever be acceptable if I am president."
Biden said the president has scaled back COVID-19 task force meetings, pushed "dangerous dis-proven drugs" and refused to wear a mask, "failing the most basic test of leadership."
Businesses, Biden said, have little federal guidance on how to reopen safely, and there's been little transparency over how recovery funds are awarded.
"Why won't you disclose the names of the businesses who received ... taxpayer funding?" Biden asked, his voice rising. "Why are they being hidden? How many cronies got bailouts? How many donors? "
Biden and Trump have had near opposing reactions to the crisis. Biden wears a mask at public events and has a detailed eight-part plan for reopening that involves guaranteed paid sick leave for people with the virus, federally funded testing and PPE for employees who must go back to work, along with a public health corps of civil servants dedicated to contact tracing. Staff measured the distance between seats at events and later spaced reporters and a few attendees far apart around the gymnasium where he spoke.
Trump, whose standing in the polls has lagged during the crisis, has pledged the country will not close again even if there is a resurgence of the virus. He's pushing to speed up the timeline for a vaccine in hopes that an economic recovery takes places sooner. Pence has twice told Americans there will be no second wave of infection. He has aimed to shift focus to the decreasing unemployment numbers and job gains.
Wednesday was Biden's third visit to the Philadelphia region in three weeks, and his first to Delaware County since declaring his candidacy. The county has shifted more Democratic in recent years; the party took all five county council seats last year in a wave that spread across Philadelphia's collar counties. Just how blue the suburbs vote could have a big impact on who wins the state in November.
Trump's campaign has been blasting Biden for what it calls a light schedule. The former vice president resumed in-person campaigning several weeks ago, with small events in which attendees wear masks and practice social distancing, with only a small group of press allowed inside.
"This is obviously a tactic to help him avoid errors and embarrassing, lost trains of thought, while also conveniently preventing the press corps from asking him any questions in person," said Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the campaign, in a statement.
Trump, meanwhile, is returning to campaigning on a much larger scale. A rally is set for an indoor arena this weekend in Tulsa, and attendees had to sign waivers pledging not to sue if they get sick.
The Trump campaign seized on the name of the bar Biden visited in Yeadon _ The Hideaway _ to crack jokes about "Hidin' Biden."
Sitting at a table on the Hideaway's outdoor patio, Biden listened to the business owners talk about how they've struggled during the pandemic.
Scott Richardson, who owns a catering business in Swarthmore, Occasionally Yours, told Biden he voted for Trump in 2016 but had lost faith in the president. Richardson said he's found Trump's response to the coronavirus particularly troubling as a small business owner who wants more guidance from the federal government.
"At some point instead of being a day trader if our president had stood up and told the American public exactly what they knew when they knew it," the virus may have not hit the country so hard, Richardson said, referring to Trump's focus on the stock market. His business lost $13,000 in just one weekend when things shut down suddenly in March.
"I felt he didn't do any long-range planning," Richardson said. "Anything we've done has been reactive thing."
Carlette Brooks, who owns the Hideaway with her husband, Kenny, told Biden her mother, whom she hadn't seen since March, died of COVID-19 in the spring. Only ten people could attend the service. On top of that, her business was hit hard.
"My mother would have never ever thought that I would be where I am right now and she would have been so proud of me," Brooks said through tears. "It's just still early and I don't know how to mourn. I dunno what to do. It's really hard."
"My mom was my heart and you know I can tell you one thing," he said. "In time when you think about it, you'll smile before you cry, that's when you know you're going to make it."
