Joe Biden slams Trump's coronavirus response, opens up about his faith in CNN town hall

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 27 February 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden participated in a CNN town hall in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday night, and he talked guns, religion, and President Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump blaming Democrats for fears about the virus' spread is "absolutely bizarre," Biden said. He's urging people not to worry after "he goes and he takes away the office we set up that's designed to deal with pandemic disease," then "tried to defund the CDC, he tried to defund the NIH, he did not have a plan to deal with how you equip hospitals" to contain a coronavirus epidemic. Biden answered the next question, about new gun laws, by expounding on the Second Amendment, recapping his history of pushing through gun restrictions, and disclosing that he has two shotguns and isn't very good at shooting skeet.

Then moderator Chris Cuomo teed up a question from Rev. Anthony Thompson, an Episcopal minister whose wife, Myra, was one of nine people shot dead in 2015 at Charleston's Emmanuel AME church: "My question is: What is your faith, and how would you use your faith in making decisions for our nation?" Biden, who is Catholic, and the Obamas had visited the church after the shooting, just weeks after Biden's son Beau died of brain cancer.

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"There's that famous phrase from [Søren] Kierkegaard: 'Faith sees best in the dark,'" Biden said. "I find the one thing it gives me — and I'm not trying to proselytize, I'm not trying to convince to be, to share my religious views — but for me, it's important because it gives me some reason to have hope and purpose. ... When my wife was killed and my daughter was killed, and then my son died, I've only been able to deal with it by realizing they're part of my being. My son Beau is my soul. And what I found was, I had to find purpose." Watch his entire answer below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.