Biden’s ‘Xenophobia’ Comments Are Hotly Contested Post Debate – Here’s The Facts

Trump Biden

During the first presidential debate on Tuesday night, Donald Trump accused 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden of calling his travel bans on China related to the Coronavirus “xenophobic.”

The Trump campaign insists the charge is true.

Media fact-checkers have claimed that the charge is unclear, and some media outlets have called it outright false.

Let’s take a look at the available information.

Trump Says Biden Called His Travel Ban ‘Xenophobic’

“I closed [the country], and you said, ‘He’s xenophobic. He’s a racist, and he’s xenophobic’ because you don’t think I should have closed our country,” Trump said Tuesday night.

“You didn’t think we should have closed our country because… you thought it was terrible. You wouldn’t have closed it for another two months. By my doing it for another two months, Dr. Fauci said, ‘President Trump saved thousands of lives,'” the President noted.

RELATED: Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy

So What Really Happened?

On January 31, President Trump implemented a partial ban on travel from China.

The day after, on February 1st, Joe Biden Tweeted this criticism:

While Biden’s “hysteria” and “xenophobia” Tweet came a day after the ban was enacted, Team Biden has denied that the former vice president was characterizing Trump’s travel ban.

The CNN fact check on the issue mentions a speech in Iowa on January 31, but doesn’t mention the Tweet the following day:

The campaign says Biden’s January 31 accusations – that Trump has a record of ‘hysterical xenophobia’ and ‘fear mongering’ – were not about the travel restrictions at all.

The campaign says Biden did not know about the restrictions at the time of his speech, since his campaign event in Iowa started shortly after the Trump administration briefing where the restrictions were revealed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

Still, CNN found that Trump’s inference is understandable:

Given the timing of the Biden remarks, it’s not unreasonable for Trump to infer that the former vice president was talking about the travel restrictions.

But Biden never took an explicit position on the restrictions until his April declaration of support.

Rather than rate Trump’s charge true or false, CNN elected to classify it as “lacking context.”

The LA Times has called Trump’s claim “false,” and Snopes says, “But it’s unclear whether Biden was specifically referencing Trump’s travel restriction on China, as Trump has claimed.”

Biden Again Uses “Xenophobic” In March Tweet

On March 18, Biden again used the term “xenophobic.” This time, while responding to a Trump tweet that specifically mentions the travel ban on China:

If looking for the temperature of the Democratic Party at the time Trump enacted the travel ban on China, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “immoral” and many in her party had a largely negative reaction.

The Media Covered Trump’s Ban On January 31

According to the Biden campaign, Biden didn’t know about Trump’s travel ban during a speech on January 31.

However, Biden tweeted about hysteria and xenophobia the following day, February 1.

The media heavily covered Trump’s travel ban on January 31. Among those covering the announcement were The Guardian, CNN, The Verge, NPR, The National Law Review, and The Washington Post.

If Biden didn’t know about the ban on January 31, his campaign surely should have made him aware by the following day.

Biden’s second Twitter comment came over a month and a half later.

As even CNN concluded, it appears perfectly reasonable for Trump – or anyone – to assume that Biden referred to a travel ban on China as xenophobic.

Is it plausible that Presidential candidate Biden didn’t know about the ban before his February 1 Tweet? Especially with all the media coverage?

What about Biden’s Tweet in March?

While it’s true that Biden did not explicitly say “the travel ban is xenophobic,” based on the aforementioned facts Trump seems perfectly within the bounds of reason and inference to view Biden’s comments as an attack on the travel ban.

So, for once, we agree with CNN.

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Trump Was Relentless During The Debate

Tuesday night’s debate was fast and furious, with President Trump relentlessly pressing Biden on virtually everything he said, frequently frustrating Fox News moderator Chris Wallace, who struggled to maintain order.

RELATED: Van Jones Lets Slip: ‘As Long As Biden Didn’t Embarrass Himself, We Were Going To Come Out Here And Praise It’

Will This Issue Come Up Again In The Next Debate?

The coronavirus pandemic and Trump’s handling of the crisis received plenty of attention, with Biden accusing the President of dropping the ball – which is when Trump noted that the former vice president appeared to condemn the travel ban.

Will this issue be revisited? Time will tell. But history shows President Trump unquestionably made the right decision.

The next presidential debate is scheduled for October 15th.

is a professional writer and editor with over 15 years of experience in conservative media and Republican politics. He... More about John Hanson

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