Democrat Joe Biden admitted his party forgot about rural Americans, but insisted that during his administration they would not be left behind in a New York Times interview with Thomas Friedman published on Wednesday.
“You know, it really does go to the issue of dignity, how you treat people," Biden said of future attempts by Democrats to earn the support of rural Americans and all the others who voted for President Donald Trump in the election. "I think they just feel forgotten. I think we forgot them."
Biden said he respected rural Americans and said he will prove it by "tackling the virus" in "red and blue areas alike."
He said that "there’s a lot of work to do" and "I’m just focused on getting some things done as quickly as I can."
When asked what it felt like to win during the coronavirus pandemic, Biden said he felt like he did "something good for the country … but there's been no moment of elation."
Biden also said he would rejoin the Iran deal as a starting point for follow-up negotiations that Trump withdrew from and that he would lift the sanctions that were imposed on Tehran in Trump’s maximum pressure policy.
Fox News pointed out that despite Biden’s election victory, Democrats fell farther behind in large, rural areas of northern battlegrounds, losing House seats in the such places that were once viewed as serious threats to Republican incumbents.
A failure by Biden to win back at least some of this rural support would make it diffiuclt for Democrats in 2022 to win a Senate majority, especially with Republican seats in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin up for election that year.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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