Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Says “Poor Kids Are Just As Talented As White Kids,” Trump Administration Responds

Former Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed the Iowa Asian and Latino Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa this week and spoke about his education plan, which plans to triple federal investment in lower-income school districts.

Biden said the country should challenge students, and in doing so, should increase the number of advanced placement programs in schools. He said, “We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it.”

“Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” Biden said, before adding: “Wealthy kids. Black kids. Asian kids. No, I really mean it. But think how we think about it. They can do anything anybody else can do, given a shot.”

Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign quickly jumped on the opportunity to throw shade following Biden’s mistake of words. Andrew Clark, the Trump campaign’s rapid response director, tweeted, “Yikes…have fun mitigating that one.”

Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, said in a statement that the former vice president “misspoke and immediately corrected himself during a refrain he often uses to make the point that all children deserve a fair shot, and children born into lower-income circumstances are just as smart as those born to wealthy parents.”

She also clapped back at the Trump campaign, stating, “Trump is desperate to change the subject from his atrocious record of using racism to divide this country.”

During his visit, Biden spoke for almost two hours answering questions on gun violence, climate change, unions, immigration, and the criminal justice system. 

Joe Biden slip-up in Iowa tonight.

“Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

Yikes…have fun mitigating that one. pic.twitter.com/m2VxZbnFHF

— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) August 9, 2019