Biden says it was a ‘mistake’ to say he wanted to put a ‘bull’s-eye’ on Trump
- The US president acknowledged his ‘mistake’, but said he’s also ‘not the guy who said I wanted to be a dictator from day one’
Those remarks from Biden came during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat had been scrambling to shore up his imperilled candidacy with key party constituencies.
During that conversation, Biden declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye”, saying Trump has received far too little scrutiny on his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
Insisting “there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda”, Biden told NBC anchor Lester Holt that while he acknowledged his “mistake”, he nonetheless is “not the guy who said I wanted to be a dictator on day one” and that he wanted the focus to be on what Trump was saying. It is Trump, not Biden, who engages in that kind of rhetoric, Biden said, referring to Trump’s past comments about a “bloodbath” if the Republican loses to Biden in November.
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden said. “Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?”
Biden said he was not sure whether the shooting changes the trajectory of the November presidential election or not.
“I don’t know and you don’t know either,” he said.