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Biden Likens Trump to Segregationist George Wallace

Reuters

   LOS ANGELES -- Joe Biden, a former U.S.vice president and Democratic
   presidential candidate, has comparedRepublican President Donald Trump
   to the late GeorgeWallace, a prominent supporter of racial segregation.

   Biden, in California for a two-day swing to campaign and raise funds,
   told a gathering on Friday that Trump is "more George Wallacethan
   George Washington."

   Wallace, remembered for his white supremacist views, servedas Alabama's
   governor for 20 years, beginning in 1967, andunsuccessfully sought the
   Democratic presidential nominationseveral times.

   His 1972 presidential bid ended when he was shot, but hesurvived.
   Wallace died in 1998.

   Biden's comment came days after Trump said in a tweet thatfour U.S.
   congresswomen of color "should go back and help fixthe totally broken
   and crime-infested places from which theycame."

   The tweet kicked off a weeklong furor in Washington, withDemocrats, and
   some Republicans, denouncing the comment asracist. Three of the four
   congresswomen were born in the UnitedStates, and all are U.S. citizens.

   "Our children are listening to this. What the president saysmatters. It
   matters, because the president is the face of thenation," Biden said in
   California.

   Trump's re-election campaign responded with a series oftweets
   highlighting what they said were Biden's own past linksto Wallace.

   Inspired by Charlottesville rally

   Biden, 76, says he was inspired to launch his 2020 WhiteHouse bid after
   a 2017 white supremacist rally inCharlottesville, Virginia, where a
   woman protesting was
   murdered. After the rally, Trump said that there were "goodpeople on
   both sides."

   Biden, who served under former Democratic President BarackObama, the
   first black U.S. president, has found his own recordon race in the
   spotlight since launching his White House bid.

   Presidential rival Kamala Harris, a U.S. senator fromCalifornia and a
   woman of color, challenged Biden on the issueduring the first
   Democratic debate, leading to its mostcontentious exchange.

   Biden has also tried to tamp down criticism after recentcomments that
   he, as a U.S. senator from Delaware in the 1970s,worked with two
   Southern segregationist senators to getthings done.

   Biden has stressed that he entered politics in the early1970s to fight
   for civil rights for minorities and civilliberties.

   Biden and Harris are two of 25 Democratic candidates vyingto become the
   party's nominee to take on Trump in the November2020 election. The two
   Democrats will face off in a secondtelevised debate on July 31.

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