Biden meets with black leaders at local church amid unrest

Joe Biden met with community leaders at a predominantly African American church in Delaware Monday morning, leaving home for a second consecutive day to address exploding racial tensions that have begun to reshape the upcoming presidential election.

Biden, the former vice president who will represent Democrats on the ballot against President Donald Trump this fall, has struggled in recent weeks to be heard from his basement television studio over the noise of dueling national crises. But after another night of violent protests, the 77-year-old Democrat gathered with roughly a dozen local black leaders during an intimate meeting in his hometown ahead of a virtual meeting with mayors from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota.

That low-key, high-touch approach marked a sharp contrast to that of Trump in recent days, who has made little effort to unify the country. The Republican president was scheduled to speak to governors and law enforcement officials on Monday, but he spent much of the weekend using Twitter as a bullhorn to urge “law and order” and tougher action by police against protesters around the country. He warned Friday that, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Trump also lashed out at Biden Monday, tweeting that “Sleepy Joe Biden’s people are so Radical Left that they are working to get the Anarchists out of jail, and probably more.”

Monday morning’s gathering featured 15 invited religious, political and educational leaders, including Delaware Democratic Rep. Blunt Rochester. They all wore masks and spaced out among the wooden pews. Much of Biden’s campaign strategy centers on trying to draw a contrast with Trump on temperament and values. He’s called the White House contest a battle for the soul of the nation and has been particularly forceful in condemning Trump’s handling of moments of racial tension.

Read more: https://apnews.com/bf2d82afc6ae2d0e8b22a5d2b48491ff