Biden to Trump: ‘All these dog whistles and racism don’t work anymore’

President TrumpDonald John TrumpCensus Bureau intends to wrap up count on Oct. 5 despite judge’s order Top House Republican calls for probe of source of NYT Trump tax documents New Yorkers report receiving ballots with wrong name, voter addresses MORE and Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenTop House Republican calls for probe of source of NYT Trump tax documents Judge’s ruling creates fresh hurdle for Trump’s TikTok ban Harris says she hasn’t ‘made a plan one way or another’ on meeting Supreme Court nominee MORE hit each other Tuesday night on the issue of race, with Biden saying Trump had been “disastrous” for the country’s Black communities and Trump responding by evoking the 1994 crime bill that Biden helped draft while he was in the Senate.

“This is not 1950. All these dog whistles on racism don’t work anymore.” Biden said to Trump. “There’s systemic injustice in this country, in education, in work and law enforcement.”

The former vice president added that most law enforcement officers are “good, decent [and] honorable,” but that the country’s justice system has been soured by numerous “bad apples.”

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The summer saw nationwide protests demanding the end of police brutality and systemic racism following the police killings of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, and George Floyd, a Black man.

Lawmakers and activists on the left have called for the defunding of local police departments, arguing that taxpayer dollars could be better spent on social services for underserved communities of color.

Biden, however, isn’t in favor of doing this, instead touting a plan that would invest hundreds of millions of dollars into expanded community policing. He repeated his stance Tuesday, though Trump interjected multiple times that he wanted to do the opposite.

When asked by moderator Chris WallaceChristopher (Chris) WallaceCompromise, yes — but how? A pre-debate suggestion Trump tax reveal roils presidential race Voters split on whether Trump, Biden will win first debate: poll MORE why his administration recently banned federal agencies from conducting racial sensitivity training, Trump asserted that the programs were “racist.”

“They were teaching people to hate this country,” Trump said, failing to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism.

The president also refused to condemn white supremacist groups, even seeming to tell the Proud Boys, a neo-Nazi extremist group, to “stand back and standby.”

Trump and his administration have taken an outwardly aggressive stance toward the protestors, sending federal agents to multiple cities to quell protests in an attempt to present himself as strong on law and order.