WASHINGTON — Joe Biden's campaign said the second night of the Republican convention Tuesday was an attempt to create an "alternate reality" to cover up for President Donald Trump's failures.
Biden's deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, accused the GOP of papering over the continuing deaths and economic suffering in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"President Trump's RNC is an alternate reality," she said. "Donald Trump’s continual refusal to take this virus seriously has given the United States the worst outbreak in the world, and his convention's refusal to come to grips with reality or acknowledge the magnitude of the loss is a stark reminder to Americans of his complete failure to lead."
Bedingfield said the evening offered "no plan for overcoming the pandemic."
And Biden's director of Latino media, Jennifer Molina, responded to Trump's decision to host a live naturalization ceremony for the RNC proceedings with Acting Homeland Secretary Secretary Chad Wolf to swear in five new citizens.
"Trump has consistently attacked our values and the contributions of immigrants," she said. "Like his many failures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans and the Trump campaign are trying to use their convention to create an alternate reality and distract from the crisis they created."
It was a revealing signal of what the Biden campaign views as important. Its statements did not echo pervasive criticisms on social media that Trump was violating norms and ethics by using the White House and the powers of the presidency as a political tool to bolster his re-election.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Democratic presidential nominee shared media fact checks on Tuesday about the GOP convention on health care, crime and the coronavirus crisis.
"Last night's incoherent charade was sad, underwhelming, and devoid of vision to the point that it bordered on self parody," Joe Biden's campaign said in a statement that pointed to myriad fact-checks by news organizations debunking claims regarding health care, crime and the coronavirus pandemic.
The GOP convention was intended to showcase ordinary Americans who praised President Donald Trump's actions and party luminaries who painted a dark and dystopian portrait of the country under Democratic governance, some of it disconnected from Biden's policy platform.
Biden's campaign said the speeches amounted to "obvious lie after obvious lie."
While Trump and his campaign hosted events throughout the Democratic convention, Biden has not publicized any in-person or virtual events he has taken part in this week, other than a joint interview with running mate Kamala Harris on ABC News over the weekend.
But his campaign has not held back online. Biden's research director, Megan Apper, tweeted on Monday night: "I can't believe that there is 3 more nights of this s---."
Biden's aim has been to present himself as a competent and widely acceptable alternative to the president, who is trailing the Democrat in national and swing state polls.
