“I wish I could say that this all began with Donald Trump and will end with him, but it didn’t and I won’t. American history is not a fairy tale. The battle for the soul of the nation has been a constant push and pull for 243 years between the American ideal that says we’re all created equal and the…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“The danger Donald Trump and the alt-right pose to this nation isn’t hypothetical or exaggerating. It’s real. The core values is this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that makes America America is at stake. Folks, everyone knows who Donald Trump is. Even the people wh…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“The American creed that were all created equal was written long ago, but the genius of every generation of Americans has open it wider and wider and wider to include those who have been excluded in a previous generation. That’s why it’s never gathered any dust in our history books. It’s still alive…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“A hundred rounds date, 30 round clips in El Paso. They’ll be banned. And when we do it, we will put in place a buy back program to get as many as these military style weapons of war as possible off the street, and we need a domestic terrorism law. We can do it without infringing on anyone’s free spe…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“Just look around the world. The worst despots are now using Trump’s language to justify their own abuses of power. Trump is trying to weaken our institutions, the press, the courts, the congress, precisely because they are the only checks on his power. That’s what this is all about. The abuse of pow…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“The reason is what we believe. The most powerful idea in the history of the world, I think beats in the heart of the people of this country. It beats in all of us. No matter your race, your ethnicity, no matter your gender identity, your sexual orientation, no matter your faith, it beats in the hear…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“No matter how old or young you are, you’ve never seen anything like this in your lifetime. We’re being reminded every day there’s nothing guaranteed about democracy, not even here in America. We have to constantly earn it. We have to protect it. We have to fight for it. I believe America is in, as L…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“How far is it from Trump saying this is an invasion to the shooter in El Paso declaring quote, 'this attack as a response to Hispanic invasion of Texas'. How far apart are those comments? How far is it from white supremacists in Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville? Trump’s very fine people chanting 'you wi…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“What this president doesn’t understand is that like every other nation on earth, we’re unable to define what constitutes America by religion, by ethnicity, or by tribe. You can’t do it. America’s an idea. An idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyran…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“Trump offers no moral leadership and seems to have no interest in unifying this nation. No evidence that the presidency has awakened his conscience in the least. Indeed, we have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced a political strategy of hate, racism, and d…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“The fact of the matter is that if you take a look at who votes in these primaries, overwhelmingly, people over the age of 50 who vote in these primaries. I want more young people engaged. I want them voting.”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden defends his son Hunter's Ukraine dealings, answers for his gaffes in 60 Minutes interview
“American presidents have stepped up in the past. George H. W. Bush renouncing his membership in the NRA. President Clinton after Oklahoma City. George W. Bush going to a mosque after 9/11, President Obama after Charleston. Presidents who led, who oppose, chose to fight for what the best of American…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“His own FBI director recently testified to Congress that extreme right-wing groups, white nationalists posed the greatest threat to racially motivated domestic terrorism. And what has Trump done? He’s poured fuel on the fire. He’s retweeted postings from extremists and white nationalists. He’s cutti…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“I don’t think it’s that far at all. It is both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation. His low energy, vacant eyed mouthing the words written for him condemning white supremacists this week I don’t believe fooled anyone at home or abroad. H…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“After Trump tweeted his go back [inaudible], the leading Nazi website, Neo Nazi website said, 'this is the kind of nationalism we elected him for'. He knows it. He saw it, and on 8chan, a haven for radicalism on the internet where a declaration of hate linked to El Paso shooter was posted. One comme…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“When he said after Charlottesville there were, and I quote, 'very fine people on both sides', I said, then it gave license and safe harbor to white supremacists and Neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. These words not only stunned America, but they stunned the world and in doing so, he has signed a moral…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019
“Mr. President, release your tax returns. Let's see how straight you are, okay old buddy? I put out 21 years of mine. So show us your tax returns, bud— wh— what are you hiding? You wanna deal with corruption? Start to act like it. Release your tax returns or shut up.”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden defends his son Hunter's Ukraine dealings, answers for his gaffes in 60 Minutes interview
“Charlottesville was no isolated incident. When Trump announced he was running for president, he called Mexicans rapists. Days before the midterm, he formatted fears of a caravan heading to United States creating hysteria when he said, 'Look, look, some marching up. This is an invasion, an invasion.'…”
— Joe Biden, Joe Biden Iowa Trump Rebuke Speech Transcript August 7, 2019