Biden says 'guys like Trump' scorn the working class. Trump says he prefers 'people who are less successful.'
At a CNN's town hall Thursday night outside Scranton, Pennsylvania, moderator Anderson Cooper asked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden if he sees "ways that you've benefited from white privilege," setting up the question by noting that President Trump was a hard no with Bob Woodward. Biden said "sure" but pretty quickly shifted the conversation to class — and Trump.
"Growing up here in Scranton, we're used to guys who look down their nose at us," Biden said, "people who look at us and think that we're suckers, look at us and they think we don't — we're not equivalent to them. If you didn't have a college degree you must be stupid, if in fact you didn't get to go an Ivy school." He said it "bothered" him when CNN and other networks point out he'd be the first president in decades without an Ivy League education.
"Who the hell makes you think I have to have an Ivy League degree to be president?" Biden asked, drawing applause. "Guys like me, who were the first in my family to go to college ... we are as good as anybody else. And guys like Trump, who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited, are the people that I've always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck."
What the hell makes you think I need an Ivy League degree to be president? #BidenTownHall pic.twitter.com/fzoMjYTlZ4
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 18, 2020
As Biden was at his town hall in Scranton, Trump was holding a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin. At one point, he went on an extended riff about how he has lost all his friends since becoming president. "I know a lot of important people," he said. "Actually, the people I like the best are the people that are less successful, because it makes you feel so powerful. I always say, never go out with a successful person, you understand."
Trump rants about how he lost all of his friends & no longer goes to dinner with people, where he'd have discussions about "you don't want to know what we talked about. It was none of your business." He then says "the people I like the best are the people who are less successful" pic.twitter.com/DDKYj2cFXf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2020
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