United States Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his vice presidential pick Kamala Harris on Wednesday called Donald Trump an incompetent leader who has left the country “in tatters”. They also called Trump the most “whining president in American history”.

Biden and Harris made the remarks during their first campaign event together in Wilmington, Delaware. The event was not open to the public due to Covid-19 risks. Both the candidates addressed a group of around 75 people, mostly journalists.

In his speech, Biden highlighted that Harris is the first woman of colour to serve as a presidential running mate for a major US party. Harris is the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica. “As a child of immigrants, [Harris] knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country, as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up Black and Indian-American in the United States of America,” said Biden. “Her story is America’s story. It’s different from mine in many particulars, but also not so different in the essentials. The choice we make this November is going to decide the future of America for a very, very long time.”

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Biden said that it was not a surprise that Trump has a problem with strong women. “Donald Trump has already started his attacks, calling Kamala, quote, nasty, whining about how she is, quote, mean to his appointees,” he added. “It’s not a surprise because whining is what Donald Trump does best, better than any president in American history.”

California Senator Harris, on the other hand, started off her speech by saying that she is “ready to get to work”. She said “everything we care about” are at stake in the presidential election on November 3.

“America is crying out for leadership, yet we have a president who cares more about himself than the people who elected him,” she said. “He inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And then, like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground.”

Harris added that Trump was not up to the job. She continued to attack Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pence over unemployment and the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,” said Harris. “Just look where they’ve gotten us: More than 16 million out of work. Millions of kids who cannot go back to school.... And tragically, more than 1,65,000 lives that have been cut short, many with loved ones who never got the chance to say goodbye.”

The United States is the worst-affected country by the pandemic in the world. Till Wednesday, it has recorded 51,93,266 cases and 1,65,934 deaths.

Harris then recalled how the US administration under former President Barack Obama and Biden handled the Ebola health crisis. “Six years ago ... we had a different health crisis,” she said. “It was called Ebola, and we all remember that pandemic. But you know what happened then? Barack Obama and Joe Biden did their job. Only two people in the United States died. Two. That is what’s called leadership.”