Biden, Trump tussle over whose America is dangerous

Former Vice President Joe Biden is challenging President Donald Trump’s claims that electing Biden would leave the country less safe in "Biden's America" in a new digital video, using Trump’s remarks during the Republican National Convention Thursday night.

"The President incites violence, inspires white-supremacist shooters, and his failed COVID response is costing thousands of lives per day. When you look at the world right now, ask yourself: Do you feel safe in Trump’s America?" Biden tweeted with the video juxtaposing sound from Trump’s RNC address with events that have taken place during his presidency, including the Charlottesville attacks at a Unite the Right Rally, a mass shooting in El Paso by a suspect who wrote a racist manifesto and the recent use of tear gas against protesters.

The video comes in the wake of a summer marked by protests across the country over racial inequality and police shootings which Trump sought to use in his case against Biden with ramped up "law and order" rhetoric.

In his RNC speech Thursday night at the White House, Trump argued that the violence was a preview for a Biden presidency.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America. They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide, they will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America," Trump said, incorrectly stating that Biden would advocate for defunding police departments -- something he has explicitly denied.

Trump’s attacks on Biden continued in a New Hampshire rally on Friday, when the president tied protestors outside the White House Thursday night, who could be heard at times as Trump spoke and confronted attendees of the president’s speech, to the former vice president.

"Just look at Joe Biden’s supporters on the streets, screaming and shouting at bystanders with unhinged, manic rage. Right? You see it. It’s crazy. It's crazy. You oughta see last night, in Washington. It was a disgrace that these people are representing the United States of America," Trump said.

Vice President Mike Pence also sought to tie Biden to the unrest in his remarks Wednesday night during the Republican’s quadrennial gathering.

"The hard truth is, you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," Pence said, also incorrectly stating that Biden would advocate for defunding police departments.

While Biden has said protests are "a right and absolutely necessary," the Democratic nominee has condemned violence and looting accompanying them, and in an interview Thursday, Biden pushed back on Pence’s claim, charging that Trump saw the violent clashes as beneficial to his re-election chances.

“The problem we have right now is we're in Donald Trump's America,” Biden told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

“He views this as a political benefit to him. He's rooting for more violence, not less," he continued. “He's pouring gasoline on the fire. This happens to be Donald Trump's America.”