‘Evil Will Not Win’: Biden Denounces White Supremacy and Takes a Swipe at Trump

WASHINGTON — President Biden convened a summit assembly on the White Home on Thursday to denounce white supremacy and different types of bias, calling on People to talk out in opposition to prejudice and taking a veiled swipe at former President Donald J. Trump for in his view countenancing hate-fueled violence.

“In America, evil is not going to win, is not going to prevail,” the president informed a particular viewers that included activists and members of the family of victims of hate-motivated assaults. “And white supremacists is not going to have the final phrase.”

Mr. Biden has lengthy mentioned he determined to run for president after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 turned violent and Mr. Trump mentioned there have been “very effective individuals on each side” of the protest and the counterprotest. To bolster that theme, Mr. Biden was launched on Thursday by Susan Bro, whose daughter, Heather Heyer, was killed by a driver in the course of the Charlottesville protest.

The “United We Stand” assembly, nonetheless, showcased the challenges of Mr. Biden’s imaginative and prescient of unity. No nationally outstanding Republican elected officers took half, though the White Home did recruit Ana Navarro, a longtime Republican commentator and critic of Mr. Trump, and a few Republican mayors to talk. The occasion additionally showcased varied nonpartisan and bipartisan efforts, together with a brand new group established by former presidential aides to handle what the group known as “a rising tide of hate-fueled violence in America.”

The group, known as Dignity.us, was based by 4 former White Home home coverage advisers: John Bridgeland, who served beneath President George W. Bush; Joe Grogan, who served beneath Mr. Trump; and Melody Barnes and Cecilia Muñoz, who served beneath President Barack Obama.

Whereas Mr. Biden didn’t point out Mr. Trump by identify, he derided his predecessor’s response to the Charlottesville violence. “When the final man was requested what did he assume, he mentioned he thought there have been some effective individuals on each side,” Mr. Biden mentioned.

The gathering got here two weeks after Mr. Biden delivered a scathing repudiation of Mr. Trump and “MAGA Republicans” as essentially anti-democratic. However the president responded to critics who’ve mentioned that he’s the one dividing America.

“There are those that say if we carry this up, we simply divide the nation,” he mentioned. “Convey it up, we silence it as an alternative of remaining silent.”

“Of us,” he mentioned later, “we can’t be intimidated by those that are speaking about this as one way or the other that we’re a bunch of wacko liberals.”

He added: “We now have to face up, and I’m assured we are going to.”