Biden says 'guys like Trump' scorn the working class. Trump says he prefers 'people who are less successful.'

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 18 September 2020

At a CNN's town hall Thursday night outside Scranton, Pennsylvania, moderator Anderson Cooper asked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden if he sees "ways that you've benefited from white privilege," setting up the question by noting that President Trump was a hard no with Bob Woodward. Biden said "sure" but pretty quickly shifted the conversation to class — and Trump.

"Growing up here in Scranton, we're used to guys who look down their nose at us," Biden said, "people who look at us and think that we're suckers, look at us and they think we don't — we're not equivalent to them. If you didn't have a college degree you must be stupid, if in fact you didn't get to go an Ivy school." He said it "bothered" him when CNN and other networks point out he'd be the first president in decades without an Ivy League education.

"Who the hell makes you think I have to have an Ivy League degree to be president?" Biden asked, drawing applause. "Guys like me, who were the first in my family to go to college ... we are as good as anybody else. And guys like Trump, who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited, are the people that I've always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck."

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As Biden was at his town hall in Scranton, Trump was holding a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin. At one point, he went on an extended riff about how he has lost all his friends since becoming president. "I know a lot of important people," he said. "Actually, the people I like the best are the people that are less successful, because it makes you feel so powerful. I always say, never go out with a successful person, you understand." 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.