Jake Tapper: Biden’s acceptance speech was ‘one of the best, if not the best’ of his career

CNN’s Jake Tapper said Thursday that Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s acceptance speech was “one of the best, if not the best” that he’s seen him give in his career.

“I’ve heard Joe Biden give I don’t know — dozens, hundreds of speeches over the years,” Tapper said Thursday night on air following the former vice president’s speech. “I have to say this was one of the best if not the best performance I’ve ever seen.”

In his speech, the Democratic candidate vowed to lead the country out of what he called a “season of darkness” during the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn. Biden painted himself as the leader to unite the country.

“The current president has cloaked America in darkness for far too long. Too much anger, too much fear, too much division. Here and now I give you my word — if you entrust me with the presidency, I’ll draw on the best of us, not the worst,” Biden said.

“I’ll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. It’s time for us, for we the people to come together, and make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America. We’ll choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege.”

The CNN anchor said Biden’s speech outdid the low expectations that President Trump’s campaign set for it, which he called a “tactical mistake.”

Previously, Trump as well as members of his family have painted Biden as a candidate who is unsteady and fumbles and have questioned the former vice president’s mental fitness during his campaign. 

Tapper said the president’s campaign “set expectations so low suggesting that Joe Biden is not capable of giving a speech like this. That meant that he would naturally exceed expectations.”

Tapper continued by saying Biden’s speech showed “how much empathy Joe Biden not only is able to project but how much he legitimately has.” 

“I can’t think … of any match-up in modern American history where the gap between the two candidates on the issues of empathy and decency is so wide than between President Trump and Joe Biden,” Tapper said.