Why Does Joe Biden Keep Losing His Cool With Voters?

By Luke O'Neil, Guardian UK

29 January 20

The Democrat had the latest in a series of bizarre encounters with voters on Tuesday, telling a man who asked about the climate crisis to ‘go vote for someone else’

oe Biden apparently doesn’t care if you vote for him. No, really. On Tuesday in Iowa the former vice-president had the latest in a series of bizarre encounters with potential voters, telling a man who asked him about the issue of building new pipelines and where he stood on the climate crisis to “go vote for someone else”.

The man, the former Iowa state representative Ed Fallon, said that he would support him in the general election against Donald Trump but not in the Iowa primary, which irked Biden, who wrongly assumed he was a Bernie Sanders supporter.

“You’re asking [for] a picture of me, coming in to tell me you don’t support me, my plan,” Biden said.

“In the general. I’m running for a primary, a caucus, that’s what I’m running for, OK,” he said pointing in the man’s chest.

Biden then assumed the man was a Sanders supporter, to which the man replied: “I’m actually supporting Tom Steyer.”

“This is no way to treat an Iowan,” Steyer responded on Twitter. “He said he’d vote for the Dem in the general b/c he knows how important it is to beat Trump. We need immediate action on climate. If you don’t agree, happy to talk @ debate. But don’t take it out on voters we need to win in Nov.”

It wasn’t the first time Biden had suggested he didn’t want someone’s vote. In November, he dismissed questions from Carlos Rojas, a member of the immigrant support group the Movimiento Cosecha, over the Obama administration’s deportations.

“You should vote for Trump,” Biden told him.

“You have the power to stop all deportations on day one through executive actions,” Rojas continued, before chants from the crowd joined in with him. He would later be hired by the Sanders campaign.

In December, Biden had similarly tense words for a voter in Iowa who suggested he might be too old for the job of the presidency and referenced questions about his son Hunter’s work in Ukraine. “You’re a damn liar, man,” Biden said before suggesting the man was too sedentary from watching TV and challenging him to a pushups and running contest.

“If anybody’s wondering if Joe Biden can take on Donald Trump and is ready for a fight, I’d point you to the video in Iowa,” senior Biden adviser Symone D Sanders said after the video emerged.

The previous month in North Carolina, Biden was dismissive of an 18-year-old member of the Sunrise Movement who expressed concern over his acceptance of Super Pac donations. “Look at my record, child,” he said.

He would have another argument with a member of the same group in December over the issue of fracking. After being unable to see eye to eye on the issue of banning the use of fossil fuels, Biden dismissed him.

“Well, you oughta vote for someone else,” he said.

Throughout much of the primary Biden’s status as the frontrunner may have provided him some leeway to dismiss voters. But with a surging Sanders he may come to regret it. He might need all the votes he can get.