'He thinks he’s still on his game show.' Biden hits Trump on virus as he courts older voters in Florida

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told a group of older Americans Tuesday that President Donald Trump has ignored their plight during the coronavirus pandemic and remained unchastened by his own hospitalization.

Biden accused Trump of steering Social Security toward insolvency. Biden said Trump’s proposal to provide $200 cards to Medicare beneficiaries would rob the program of precious funds. And Biden said Trump was playing games with Congress by pulling out of negotiations over more recovery spending before tweeting “go big or go home!!!”

“It’s all a game. He thinks he’s still on his game show,” Biden said at the Southwest Focal Point Community Center. “It’s a political game he’s playing.”

Three weeks from the end of the election, Biden and Trump are each targeting older voters. Trump's spokesmen dismissed Biden's accusations as lies and said he was playing political games.

Biden's accusation about Social Security is that it would become insolvent by 2023 if the Trump-ordered hiatus in payroll taxes this year, to fatten paychecks during the pandemic, were made permanent.

But Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, has said Trump’s proposal is to make this year's cut in payroll taxes permanent, to prevent workers from having to repay the money, rather than to eliminate payroll taxes permanently.

“The president is very clear on this matter that he wants a permanent forgiveness of the deferral,” McEnany said. “That’s as far as he’s gone, and he’s gone even further to say he’s going to make sure that Social Security is fully funded.”

The heart of Biden's attack on Trump was that the president remained indifferent to 215,000 American deaths from the pandemic. After recognizing Carl Shechter, a 93-year-old veteran of World War II whose name was on the community center, Biden warned of projections for 400,000 deaths from the virus that would match the deaths during the four-year war.

“How many of you have been unable to hug your grandkids the last six or seven months?" Biden asked. “While you’re losing precious time with your loved ones, he’s been stuck in sand trap on one of his golf courses."

Biden: Trump isn't 'chastened'

Biden said he prayed for Trump to recover from the virus after his diagnosis Sept. 29 and hospitalization for several days, but was disappointed that the president continued to hold unsafe rallies.

“I had hope at least he’d come out of it somewhat chastened,” Biden said. “He’s just doubled down on the misinformation he did before and made it worse.”

Biden quoted Trump at a recent rally saying the virus “affects virtually nobody” because only the elderly and people with heart conditions or other problems died.

“He was talking about America’s seniors. He was talking about you. He was talking about my family,” Biden said. “You deserve respect and peace of mind.”

Matt Wolking, a Trump campaign spokesman, accused Biden of lying by taking a Trump quote about how the virus doesn’t affect young people out of context.

“It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that's what it really affects. That's it,” Trump said Sept. 21 in Ohio, while noting that younger people have stronger immune systems. “You look, you – take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system. But it affects virtually nobody.”

Another Trump spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, accused Biden of “playing politics” after the president shut down travel from China to curb the virus and spurred development of therapeutics and vaccines.

“Biden is playing politics with people’s lives over the virus, trying to frighten vulnerable populations away from taking the life-saving vaccine when it’s ready, and saying he would consider calling for another economic shutdown that will create its own health problems,” Murtaugh said.

Federal health officials continue to work on distributing prescription-drug cards to 39 million Medicare beneficiaries, but they might not be mailed before the election.

Trump won older voters in 2016 by between seven and nine points. But Trump and Biden had been splitting voters at least 65 years old, but a Washington Post/ABC News poll found the challenger edging the incumbent 52% to 47%. The poll of 1,014 adults conducted Oct. 6 to 9 had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Trump’s campaign is spending millions on ads promoting his record for seniors. One ad said Trump protected Social Security and Medicare, while Biden tried to cut them. Another ad described Trump recovering from coronavirus and protecting seniors by sparing no expense in developing life-saving drugs.

“We’ll live carefully, but not afraid,” the ad states.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are each heading to Miami for rallies on Thursday, Pence at 12:30 p.m. and Trump at 4:20 p.m.

At the Biden event, Mitchell Berger, 64, of Fort Lauderdale, sat in white circle, wearing a Biden 2020 campaign button. Berger, who represented Democratic nominee Al Gore during the Florida recount in 2000 and volunteered legal assistance to the Biden campaign, said Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus has boosted Biden's standing with seniors “on steroids.”

Karen Fortman, 73, and Philip Fortman, 77, of Davie have been volunteering with the campaign to get out the senior vote through a phone bank that “reassures people who are nervous” so they understand their options.

“If Hillary had been elected, we’d have retired from politics, but here we are,” Philip Fortman said of 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden slams Trump on virus, Social Security and Medicare in Florida