Biden Uses Gettysburg Backdrop to Say He Can Unite the Nation

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stood in front of the Civil War battlefields of Gettysburg on Tuesday to offer a pledge to unify the country as his campaign entered its final four weeks and his support appears to be growing.

“Today, once again, we are a house divided,” Biden said using a phrase made famous by President Abraham Lincoln. “This must end.”

Biden's focus on unity was a return to one of the core themes of his campaign against President Donald Trump. He stuck to this message throughout the Democratic primary, insisting that he could lead efforts to restore “the soul of the nation.”

He warned that Trump poses a threat to American democracy and urged voters not to allow nearly two-and-a-half centuries of American ideals to erode further.

“It cannot be that after all this country has been through, after all that America has accomplished, after all the years we have stood as a beacon of light to the world, it cannot be that here and now in 2020, we will allow the government of the people, by the people and for the people to perish on this Earth,” he said, taking lines from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, his famous 1863 speech aimed at restoring a sense of national purpose.

Referring to the protests that roiled the country this summer over police brutality against Black people, Biden said that if elected, “I will send a clear, unequivocal message to the entire nation. There's no place for hate in America. It will be given no license, it will be given no oxygen, it will be given no safe harbor.”

He added, “I believe in law and order -- I've never supported defunding the police -- but I also believe injustice is real.”

He cited a Gettysburg speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who also faced urban riots over civil rights. He quoted Johnson as saying, “Our nation founds its soul and honor in these fields of Gettysburg. It must not lose that soul in dishonor on the fields of hate.”

Biden also called for an end to the divisiveness over the coronavirus pandemic. Many Americans, particularly Republicans, say that wearing masks is an assault on individual liberty. Biden said he would implement a “national strategy” that would unite the country around fighting the virus.

The Gettysburg location was significant both because of its importance in the Civil War and also because it is in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which voted for Trump in 2016 after voting for Democrats the previous two decades.

A Monmouth University poll released Tuesday showed Biden's lead widening in the state to 11 percentage points in a high-turnout scenario. As recently as August, Biden led by no more than 3 points.

Trump protested Biden's polling lead in a Tuesday tweet, writing “How does Biden lead in Pennsylvania Polls when he is against Fracking (JOBS!), 2nd Amendment and Religion? Fake Polls. I will win Pennsylvania!”

Biden's campaign said Tuesday he again tested negative for the coronavirus. He has been tested regularly since Trump was diagnosed days after their first debate on Sept. 29.

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