Former vice president Joe Biden wants America to know he’s nothing like President Trump – a guy he describes as a modern-day George Wallace.
Biden attempted to capitalize on the controversy brewing between Trump and four Socialist congresswomen known as “The Squad” Thursday with a visit to serve up a heaping helping of soul food to his people at Dulan’s, a famed black restaurant on LA’s Crenshaw Boulevard.
Unlike the other workers at the establishment, Biden didn’t bother to put on gloves before doling out grits, eggs and other breakfast fare to a handful of patrons, as dozens of photographers jockeyed for footage.
Look at Biden trying to get the Black votes by serving food at Dulan’s. FOH smh 🙄😒
— LongLiveNipsey 🏁💙🙏🏽 (@RareGemLENA) July 19, 2019
Cheesing and all. So damn cliche. What’s next? He’s going to visit a Black church on First Sunday? Reminds me of Bill and his shenanigans with that damn saxophone smh
— LongLiveNipsey 🏁💙🙏🏽 (@RareGemLENA) July 19, 2019
“Look at Biden trying to get the Black votes by serving food at Dulan’s. FOH smh,” LongLiveNipsey posted to Twitter. “Cheesing and all. So damn cliché. What’s next? He’s going to visit a Black church on First Sunday? Reminds me of Bill and his shenanigans with that damn saxophone smh.”
Biden’s focus was clearly on highlighting why Trump is bad, and he is good.
“Did you see or hear Trump’s rally last night?” Biden asked his audience. “It was, it was despicable.”
At the rally, Trump explained why he’s attacked the socialist squad and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in particular, as the crowd erupted into a chant to “send her back.” The call follows a series of Trump tweets that urged The Squad to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places” they came from, then to return to “show us how it is done.”
Omar is a refugee from Somalia, while the rest of the squad were born in the United States.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, elected as one of the two first Muslim women in Congress alongside Omar, is Palestinian.
“Send them back, send them back, send them back,” Biden said at Dolan’s. “When has that ever happened other than the last time you remember anything about George Wallace?”
TMZ captured Biden in a crisply ironed shirt and perfect tie as he greeted employees at Dolan’s behind the line, shaking their hands and patting them on the back. One of the employees fitted the vice president with an official apron and Dulan’s hat, which he wore for a few seconds and promptly ditched.
“What’s your go-to soul food plate? What’s on your soul food plate?” a TMZ reporter as the career politician.
“Um, grits, and eggs, and … fried chicken and biscuits,” said Biden, who was assigned to scoop grits.
As patrons approached, Biden shook their hands, then grabbed the ladle and served a steaming pile.
.@JoeBiden is in LA today on a local visit at Dulan’s on Crenshaw pic.twitter.com/9b3V7k4GnM
— Austin Peay (@austinrpeay) July 18, 2019
None of the videos or photos appear to show Biden wash his hands at any point.
Afterwards, outside the establishment, Biden continued to focus on Trump, alleging he would have had a much different reaction to the “send her back” chant. Trump stopped his comments and appeared to disapprove but did not disavow the chant until questioned about it the next day.
Hey from Dulan’s on Crenshaw in LA where former VP Biden is serving food to locals pic.twitter.com/qvhVYWymve
— Sarah Mucha (@sarahmucha) July 18, 2019
“Imagine if someone said that when I was speaking, what I would have said. No, stop,” Biden told reporters. “Speak up, man. Not after the fact. Not after the fact.”
One of the reporters tossed Biden a softball.
“How do you heal the country, because clearly if that is happening, we’re pretty divided right now,” the reporter said. “If you are president, how do you put the pieces back together?”
Biden dipped and dodged.
“Look, I think the vast majority of the American people understand what’s going on,” he said. “They get it.”
Biden also repeated Obama’s famous line that “if you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance” under his proposal to vastly expand Obamacare.
“I think people should be able to, if their employer is offering insurance that they in fact like, keep it, not have to get into a Medicare for All proposal,” he said.
Fox 11 highlighted Biden’s frontrunner status in the Democratic primary among black voters, and spoke with several folks at the soul food restaurant who are in Biden’s corner. One man cited Biden’s “demeanor,” as well as his age as assets.
“He stays fit,” the man said.
Another told the news site “he seems genuine.”
Folks online, meanwhile, are offering a different assessment.
This man is the embodiment of cringeworthy 🥴
— ❄️JIRA SNOW❄️ (@xoxo_jira) July 18, 2019
“This man is the embodiment of cringeworthy,” JIRA SNOW tweeted.
“Do people still fall for this shit?” Aram Tolegian questioned. “I can almost hear Hillary’s southern drawl from the kitchen.”
Biden left the restaurant in a gleaming silver SUV with a red hat that read “Make Crenshaw Great Again,” off to a Hollywood fundraiser later that evening.
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