Former Vice President Joe Biden reminded New Hampshire voters on Monday that President Donald Trump once called their state a 'drug-infested den' as he repeatedly criticized the president but vowed not to get into a 'mud-wrestling match' with Trump.
'This president every day says something hateful and demeaning,' Biden told supporters at the Manchester Community College.
He reminded them the president called their state - which is in the top five for the highest rates of death due to opioid addiction - 'a quote drug infested den,' which brought boos from the crowd.
Former Vice President Joe Biden reminded New Hampshire voters that President Donald Trump once called their state a 'drug-infested den'
Biden and President Donald Trump have gone after one another repeatedly since the former vice president officially entered the 2020 race
Trump used the description in a 2017 call with the president of New Mexico.
'I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,' the president said.
New Hampshire politicians were outraged at the time. Additionally, Trump won the state in the 2016 Republican primary but lost it to Hillary Clinton in the general election.
'He just doesn't get it,' Biden said on Monday.
And he warned them repealing the Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare - would make the opioid crisis worse.
'One of the worst things you can do to worsen the drug crisis is repeal the ACA and Medicaid expansion,' the former vice president said.
Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.
Biden wrapped up his first day in the important primary state with a fiery speech that directed criticism after criticism at Trump while describing Obama 'a presidency, literally, that our children could look up to.'
'There wasn't one single solitary hint of scandal for all eight years,' Biden said.
Biden and Trump have been going mano-a mano since the former vice president officially entered the 2020 presidential race.
The former vice president still has to win the Democratic nomination for the right to take on Trump in the general but he has directed his fire at the president from Day One.
And he pledged not to attack his fellow Democrats.
'We got a great group of candidates running. I respect them all and you'll never hear me say a negative thing about a Democrat running for president,' Biden said.
Trump, meanwhile, has taken to Twitter to give Biden a derogatory nickname - one of his favorite weapons to wield against political rivals - calling him 'Sleepy Joe' and 'Sleepy Creepy Joe.'
'Looks to me like it's going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie. Everyone else is fading fast!' Trump wrote on Twitter Friday in his take on the Democratic field.
Biden wrapped up his first day of campaigning in New Hampshire with a speech in Manchester
He also toured the Historical Society Museum in Somersworth, New Hampshire
Biden has hit back.
During a campaign stop in South Carolina earlier this month, he called Trump a 'clown.
'There's so many nicknames I'm inclined to give this guy,' he said to laughter in the room. 'You can just start with clown.'
But his wife, Jill Biden, later said she told off her husband for his name calling.
'I spoke to him about that,' she told NBC News last week, citing advice Michelle Obama gave during her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. 'Remember what Michelle said: When they go low, we go high.'
In New Hampshire on Monday night, Biden
