“Our president has aligned himself with the darkest forces in this nation,” Mr. Biden said. Mr. Trump “offers no moral leadership,” he added, saying that the president has “no interest in unifying the nation” and that there was “no evidence the presidency has awakened his conscience in the least.”
“Indeed, we have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced a political strategy of hate, racism and division,” Mr. Biden said.
Leaving the White House on Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump was asked to respond to another comment by Mr. Biden in which he said the president had more in common with George Wallace than George Washington.
“Well, Joe is a pretty incompetent guy,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve watched his interviews. I’ve watched what he said and how he said it. And I wouldn’t have rated him very high in the first place. But Joe Biden has truly lost his fastball, that I could tell you.”
Later, as the former vice president delivered the speech, the president tweeted his disgust from Air Force One as he traveled from Dayton to El Paso.
“Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring!” the president tweeted. “The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy. It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!”
Mr. Trump did not arrive in El Paso until about 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, but like in Dayton, protesters gathered ahead of his arrival, demonstrating their anger about what they said was his divisive language and unwillingness to push for aggressive gun control measures. Judy Lugo, the president of the Texas State Employees Union, which represents 10,000 state workers, was one of the people who said Mr. Trump should not have come to El Paso.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Ms. Lugo said of the president’s visit. “The people here need to mourn, they need to be left alone. They don’t need him coming down saying how sorry he is when people don’t think he’s sorry.”