Biden uses convention speech to comfort those who lost loved ones to COVID-19

Joe Biden spoke directly to those who have lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic during his Democratic National Convention speech on Thursday. Donald Trump has mostly refused to show empathy for coronavirus victims, instead repeatedly downplaying death totals.

He has occasionally paid tribute to his rich friends who have died from COVID-19, but has mostly sought to minimize the mortality rates.

Earlier this month, he told Axios the death toll “is what it is.”

Biden noted that, due to Trump’s botched response to the pandemic, more than 5 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus and more than 170,000 have died. He called it “by far the worst performance of any nation on Earth.”

He then addressed the families and friends of those who have died, invoking his own experiences with tragedy.

Joe Biden: I understand how hard it is to have any hope right now. On this summer night, let me take a moment to speak to those of you who have lost the most. I have some idea how it feels to lose someone you love.

 

I know that deep black hole that opens in the middle of your chest, and you feel like you are being sucked into it. I know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes.

 

But I have learned two things.

 

First, your loved one may have left this Earth, but they’ll never leave your heart. They will always be with you. You will always hear them.

 

And second, I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose. As God’s children, each of us have a purpose in our lives. We have a great purpose as a nation: to open the doors of opportunity to all Americans, to save our democracy, to be a light to the world once again, and finally to live up to and make real the words written in the sacred documents that founded this nation.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.