At a campaign event on July 12 at Renaissance High School in Detroit, U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to endorse a protester who accused Israel of killing babies and called for a “free Palestine.”
After an audience member yelled out “free, free Palestine! free, free Palestine!” and “hey, hey, what do you say? These babies are dying every day!” Biden said, to applause, “Folks, folks—look, give me—give me one second,” per the official White House transcript.
“Folks, look, I understand her passion. I understand her passion,” Biden said, of the protester. “That’s why I put together a detailed plan that the United Nations accepted, that the Israelis accepted, that the Palestinians have accepted to end this war. This war must end.”
The White House released the transcript, of the event which took place the day before an assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump, on Monday.
In his remarks, Biden said “I know him. Donald Trump is a loser,” to chants of “lock him up” from the audience, and that about Trump saying to inject bleach to fight COVID, “I think he missed; he hit his head.”
“Trump is even more dangerous now. No, I’m serious. He’s unhinged. He snapped,” Biden added at the Detroit event. “Look, he says, if he loses, there will be a ‘bloodbath’ when he loses.” (The following day, a man shot Trump in the ear at a campaign event, and the former president was seen with blood streaming down his face.)
“The United States Supreme Court said there’s virtually no limit on the power of a president. Trump said if he wins, he’ll be a dictator on day one. He means it, folks. We’re not going to let that happen,” Biden added. “Over my dead body will it happen.”
“Another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious—deadly serious. His proposals are deadly serious,” Biden added.
“Are you with me? Are we going to stop Donald Trump?” he said. “Let’s get this done.”
After the assassination attempt, in which a rally attendee was killed and two were seriously injured, Biden has called for toning divisive rhetoric down.