Biden on Trump: “I Am Not Running for Office to Be King of America”

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:59 am

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump after the latter claimed he is an “absolute authority.”

“I am not running for office to be King of America. I respect the Constitution. I’ve read the Constitution. I’ve sworn an oath to it many times,” Biden, the presumptive nominee, wrote on Twitter. “I respect the great job so many of this country’s governors — Democratic and Republican — are doing under these horrific circumstances.”

Biden’s message came after Trump claimed yesterday’s press conference that he has “absolute authority” as president.

“I have the ultimate authority,” he told reporters in response to a question about what authority he has to reopen the economy. “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be. … It’s total. The governors know that.”

Trump’s claim prompted Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to criticize his plans for reopening the economy.

“There is no ‘reopening’ without a plan to get the virus under control and keep it that way,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “Trump’s false claims of absolute power are alarming, of course. But his failure to scale up testing is unforgiveable and deadly. His power isn’t absolute—but his incompetence is.”