During a town hall on CNN on Thursday, 2020 Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden responded to a question on his praise of protests over the summer and his condemnation of President Donald Trump’s rallies by stating that people should be careful about contracting coronavirus no matter what, his praise of protests was simply about people’s right to free speech, and “there is a big difference between people walking, moving along, and people sitting down, cheek to jowl, shoulder to shoulder, a thousand of them, breathing on one another, indoors and out.”
Host Anderson Cooper asked, “You’ve called the president’s rallies irresponsible, yet you praised peaceful protesting this summer. What is the difference when it comes to COVID safety?”
Biden responded, “I think COVID safety is a problem no matter where people are, wearing masks — if they don’t have masks on. The context of praising people who protest peacefully is they have — there was a lot of question of right to speak, not to loot, not to burn, not to do anything that causes damage, the right to speak out makes sense. But we should be careful across the board, across the board, but there is a big difference between people walking, moving along, and people sitting down, cheek to jowl, shoulder to shoulder, a thousand of them, breathing on one another, indoors and out. That causes real, serious problems.”
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