Trump tweets racially-charged video mocking Obama's endorsement of Biden as 2020 presidential candidate
President Donald Trump, on Monday, shared a controversial video supporting his 2020 campaign, and which contains a racially-charged attack on his political rival Joe Biden and features former President Barack Obama's face superimposed on someone else.
In the 30-second video, which gives the appearance of a Trump-Pence campaign, "Obama" and three other black men are shown watching a basketball game when a "Biden campaign commercial" appears on the television.
In the commercial, the former vice president is seen talking about his time as a lifeguard and how black children at the swimming pool jumped on his lap.
The ad shows Biden struggling for words as the men look around and then at Obama, who responds to their stares by saying: "What?" The video shared by Trump appears to be heavily photoshopped and taken from an Allstate advertisement, with Obama's face superimposed over actor Dennis Haysbert's.
Shortly after the president shared the advertisement, a Trump campaign official released a statement saying that although the ad ends with ‘Trump Pence 2020 Make American Great Again,’ it is not their official campaign ad, according to the Daily Mail.
The video, which as of Monday afternoon has received over 5.6 million views, features a part of Biden's actual speech which he gave in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2017. The former vice president, at the time, was talking about his days working as a lifeguard.
"And by the way, you know I sit on the stand and it'd get hot. I got a lot of — I got hairy legs ... that turn blonde in the sun," Biden said. "And the kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again. So I learned about roaches and I learned about kids jumping on my lap. I love kids jumping on my lap," he added. A particular section from the clip had become viral last year.
Trump's tweet came shortly after a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed Biden leading the 2020 presidential run by 7 points, 49 percent to 42 percent. The poll also stated that the former vice president also had more support from African American voters than Trump, 85 percent to 7 percent.
The two leaders, over the recent weeks, have sparred over who has the best plan to deal with the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country. Biden recently attacked Trump for not being prepared for the pandemic, while Trump arguing that the Obama administration left him nearly handicapped to deal with the virus, without much resources available. The Republican also complained about Biden's handling of the swine flu pandemic a few years ago. Both the candidates have stayed off from rallies and campaign trails in recent months due to the coronavirus linked social distancing restrictions.
Trump, on Friday, April 17, also expressed his desire to go back on the campaign trail soon; however, he did not divulge a timeline. "It's great for the country," he said while referring to his campaign trail, adding that he was not a fan of doing rallies with the currently enforced social distancing practices.
"It loses a lot of flavor," he said, noting that he had been inside the White House "for months."
"I've been in the White House for months," he said. "I don't know what it is but it's been months. Other than I did leave to, to say goodbye to a beautiful ship." The president was referring to his visit to Virginia as he left Washington on March 28 to watch the USNS comfort depart for New York City, where it is currently stationed to cater to coronavirus affected patients.