“I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness,” he said.
Democrats have spent three nights mixing blunt criticism of Trump as an incompetent and corrupt threat to democracy with reassuring promises that Biden, 77, has the decency and experience to tackle the pandemic and other difficult problems. They’ve also sought to portray the party’s moderate and liberal wings as largely unified, burying progressive concerns that Biden is too much of an establishment centrist.
At a small rally earlier in the day near Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Trump told his supporters that Biden would be their “worst nightmare.”
Biden promised that while he is running as a Democrat, he would be “an American president.” He criticized Trump for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and the economic devastation that followed, saying the country’s condition would get worse if the president is re-elected.
“Cases and deaths will remain far too high,” he said. “More mom and pop businesses will close their doors, and this time for good.”
Trump, he said, “keeps telling us, the virus is going to disappear. I have news for him: no miracle is coming. Our economy is in tatters. And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan.”
Biden said he’d implement his own coronavirus plan on “day one” of his presidency, moving to deploy “rapid” tests to contain the outbreak, build medical supplies in the country and ensure schools can safely open to students.
“Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation,” Biden said. “He’s failed to protect us.”
Biden also more generally assailed Trump’s behavior while president, describing him as unfit for the office he holds.
“The president takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators, and fans the flames of hate and division,” Biden said.
Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur who challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination, opened the convention’s fourth night by urging Americans who voted for Trump “or didn’t vote at all” in 2016 to consider the former vice president.
“We are in a deep dark hole, and we need leaders who will help us dig out,” he said. He said he sympathized with 2016 Trump voters or those who “despair that our government will ever rise to the challenges of our time.” But, he said, “We must give this country, our country, a chance to recover.”
Biden and his vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, are “real people. They understand the problems we face. If we give them the chance, they’ll fight for us and our families every single day.”
Speaker after speaker at the convention, including former President Barack Obama, also have encouraged Americans to vote early and have a plan to cast their ballot, in anticipation of potential mail delays and long, socially distanced lines at physical polling stations. Harris, a California senator, warned viewers on Wednesday that Republicans will seek to suppress the vote in the belief that high turnout would benefit Biden.
A record number of Americans are expected to cast mail-in ballots this year because of the pandemic. Democrats have accused Trump of trying to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service to help his re-election bid, while the president has already begun to try to sow public doubt about any outcome that results in a Biden victory.
“Let’s stand up for our children, our children’s children, and for this great democracy that our ancestors worked to build, and let’s vote,” said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, whom Biden considered as a possible running mate. “And let’s organize to get others to vote with us.”
Thursday’s program featured two Democratic election officials, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who have moved to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic despite Trump’s unfounded claims it’s riddled with fraud.
Hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Thursday night’s program theme was “America’s Promise,” touting Biden’s decades of public service and featuring people who can “speak to Joe Biden’s leadership and character,” according to the DNC. Louis-Dreyfus repeatedly mocked Trump in jokes made between speakers.
Speakers included other former Biden competitors for the party’s nomination: Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg said that Trump’s leadership had been terrible for the country, blaming him for hundreds of thousands of Americans sickened or killed by coronavirus.
“I’m not asking you to vote against Donald Trump because he’s a bad guy. I’m urging you to vote against him because he’s done a bad job.”
Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, both considered as possible Biden running mates, both spoke as well, as did and Senator Chris Coons of Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Duckworth, a veteran amputee who was wounded in combat, said that “Donald Trump doesn’t deserve to call himself commander-in-chief for another four minutes, let alone another four years.”
Buttigieg, who is openly gay, said that Biden had “stepped out ahead, even of this party, when he said that marriage equality ought to be the law of the land” and that Biden is building a coalition “standing for an America where everyone belongs.”
Biden was introduced by his children and grandchildren, including his son, Hunter Biden, who was targeted by Trump during the impeachment for his work for a Ukrainian gas company while Biden was vice president. His presence signaled that Biden is unconcerned with Trump’s reaction to his appearance.
Harris made history on Wednesday night by becoming the first Black and Indian-American woman to be nominated for the vice presidency with an acceptance speech meant to re-introduce her to the country and help make the case against Trump.