2020 race: Bill Clinton’s turn to dump on Donald Trump

Bill Clinton says Donald Trump is a president who refuses to accept responsibility for his failures and for the chaos he has sown across America.

Former US President Bill Clinton speaking during the second day of the Democratic convention. Picture: AFP

Former US president Bill Clinton has launched his strongest attack on Donald Trump, saying he is a president who refuses to accept responsibility for his failures and for the chaos he has sown across America.

Mr Clinton was speaking on day two of the four day Democratic National Convention, a day when Mr Biden officially became the party’s 2020 presidential nominee.

“Donald Trump says we’re leading the world. Well we are the only major industrialised economy to have its unemployment rate triple,” the 73-year-old Mr Clinton said from his New York home.

“At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command centre. Instead it’s a storm centre. There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes — his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.”

Mr Clinton portrayed Mr Trump as a leader who spent his days watching TV and sending tweets.

He warned that if he was re-elected, Americans would have another four years of a president who would use his office to “blame, bully, belittle” in contrast to Mr Biden, who he said would be a “go-to-work president, a down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy”.

Mr Clinton was one of another rollcall of prominent Democrat identities to speak at the virtual convention ranging from 95-year-old former president Jimmy Carter and 30-year-old left-wing firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mr Biden’s wife Jill, who may become first lady in January, gave her most high-profile speech yet during which she became emotional as she described the compassionate nature of her husband.

She talked about how he handled the loss of his first wife and baby daughter in a car crash and, later in life, his son Beau to brain cancer.

“There are times when I couldn’t imagine how he did it — how he put one foot in front of the other and kept going. But I’ve ­always understood why he did it … he does it for you,” she said.

“How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding — and with small acts of compassion. With bravery. With unwavering faith.”

Ms Biden was speaking from Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Delaware, when she once taught and she spoke of how so many American children cannot go to school today because of the mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic.

“You hear the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways. There’s no scent of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors. The rooms are dark and the bright young faces that should fill them are confined to boxes on a computer screen,” Ms Biden said.

“We just need leadership worthy of our nation, worthy of you … to recover from this pandemic and prepare for whatever comes next. With Joe as president these classrooms will ring out with laughter and possibility again.’

The two-hour virtual program included a rollcall from delegates in all 50 states, which culminated in Mr Biden formally becoming the party’s presidential nominee after two previous unsuccessful ­attempts.

The program also included a video highlighting the friendship that formed between Mr Biden and long-time Republican and former presidential candidate John McCain. McCain, who died in 2018, fell out with Mr Trump in the final years of his life and ­became the President’s highest profile Republican critic.

The program also included former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell, who endorsed Mr Biden.

Mr Carter, the oldest living president, said Mr Biden had “the experience, character, and decency to bring us together and restore America’s greatness”.

“Joe is that kind of leader, and he is the right person for this ­moment in our nation’s history. He understands that honesty and dignity are essential traits that ­determine not only our vision but our actions. More than ever, that’s what we need,” Mr Carter said.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump on Wednesday hit back at former first lady Michelle Obama after she stole the first day of the convention with a scathing attack on the President, accusing him of sowing chaos and division and of not being up to the job.

Mr Trump described the speech as “very divisive” and said it should not have received such “fawning” media coverage.

“She was over her head,” the President said. “And frankly, she should have made the speech live, which she didn’t do. She taped it.”

Earlier in a tweet Mr Trump said Barack Obama’s poor performance was the reason that he was president.

“Somebody please explain to @michelleobama that Donald J. Trump would not be here, in the beautiful White House, if it weren’t for the job done by your husband, Barack Obama,” he tweeted. “Biden was merely an ­afterthought, a good reason for that very late & unenthusiastic endorsement.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia