Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bidenlost his temper at a drive-in rally in Minnesota calling Trump supporters “ugly folks” after they interrupted his speech with car horns.
Biden was visiting St. Paul in the final days leading up to the hotly-contested presidential election on November 3.
As he began discussing the wearing of masks at the rally, Trump supporters began blasting their horns, which was met with an angry outburst by Biden who said: “Dr. Fauci called for a mask mandate last week. This isn’t a political statement like those ugly folks over there, beeping the horn.
“This is a patriotic duty for God’s sake! Look, in his own words, as I said, the president knew back in January how extremely dangerous and communicable this disease was.”
The swipe at his opponent’s supporters came just seconds after he said: “We need a president who will bring us together, not pull us apart” prompting derision from some on Twitter.
Republican Jason Lewis, US Senate candidate for Minnesota, tweeted about the incident and quoted Biden alongside a picture of a woman with her hand in the air and the slogan: “Raise your hand if (sic) support a man who called MN voters ugly folks?”
Elsewhere, the put-down was likened to Hilary Clinton’s comments during the 2016 race to the White House when she said Trump supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables“.
A veteran with the Twitter handle @tleehumphrey said: “I guess calling those who support a different political candidate “chumps” and “ugly folks” is a set up from ‘deplorables’ #sarcasm #USElection 2020
Those attending the rally were socially distanced and parked up to 20 feet apart.
Supporters had flocked to hear Biden as he campaigned in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota on Friday.
Biden’s comments emerged as a poll showed he has a strong lead over President Donald Trump going into the final weekend.
The poll, by Fox News, showed that although his advantage has narrowed slightly in the last month, he is leading the way.
The survey by the network found that Biden is eight percentage points ahead of the president—52 percent to 44 percent, which is outside the poll’s 2.5 percent margin for error. This is slightly less than the ten-point advantage Biden enjoyed over Trump at the start of October.
Two percent of respondents supported a third-party candidate while a further two percent were undecided. The survey conducted between October 27 and 29, shows Trump was preferred over Biden by White men (+17 points), rural voters (+18 points), and White evangelical Christians (+50), although those margins are lower than what he received in 2016.
*story by NewsWeek