President Joe Biden is happy to answer former President Donald Trump‘s question whether voters were better off four years ago.
Biden has shied away from mentioning the pandemic after the government’s public health emergency ended in May 2023, but as the four year anniversary of the start to shutdowns and the chaos of the pandemic has recently passed, he has brought it back up at Trump’s invitation.
Trump asked on Truth Social last week, “ARE YOU BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?” The post came more than four years after several states locked down for COVID-19 and the Trump White House had launched the “15 Days to Slow the Spread” initiative, which called for distancing and isolation amid the spread of coronavirus.
Biden took the opportunity to respond with a post on X, saying “Donald, I’m glad you asked,” and including a video highlighting the strife of the pandemic in March 2020.
Since that initial mention by Trump, Biden has invoked “four years ago” several times in campaign events in speeches and fundraisers. The president has enjoyed bringing back anecdotes from Trump’s response to the pandemic in early 2020, according to a report from Politico, as he tries to remind voters of the turbulence of the early months of the pandemic under Trump.
Biden brought up the chaos of March 2020 during a fundraising event in Houston earlier this month, invoking the overwhelmed hospitals and high unemployment numbers as much of the country shutdown.
“I hope everyone in the country takes a moment to think back where they were in March of 2020,” Biden said at the fundraising event.
The president also brought up other anecdotes, including the initial run on toilet paper and when Trump had mused about treatments for COVID-19. Biden has brought up when Trump had floated using UV or disinfectant for treatments during a White House coronavirus briefing in April 2020.
Biden has repeated that attack on Trump in various other settings, including when defending the Affordable Care Act – also known as “Obamacare.” During a campaign call with former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over the weekend, Biden brought up the disinfectant comments from April 2020.
The president also belittled Trump during a speech in North Carolina on Tuesday, arguing the former president was not about “science and reason” as a juxtaposition.
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“Let’s remember four years ago this month we saw how my predecessor didn’t care much about science and reason,” Biden said on Tuesday.
Biden has trailed Trump in most recent polls in swing states and nationally, in a reversal of four years ago.
