DECENCY IS THE BIDEN BRAND:

Biden, appearing energized as he handled participants' questions, also accused Trump of knowing the seriousness of the coronavirus threat early this year and hiding it from the nation.

"He knew it and did nothing. It's close to criminal," Biden said in one of several fiery criticisms of Trump.

"This president should step down," he added.

The 77-year-old candidate also used a populist inflection, framing the 2020 election between him and billionaire real estate mogul Trump as "a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue."

Blue-collar Americans -- like the family Biden grew up in -- "are as good as anybody else," he said.

"And guys like Trump, who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited, are the people that I've always found a problem with -- not the people who are busting their neck."

The tough remarks appeared aimed at working-class white voters with whom he must do better if he is to win back swing states that went to Trump in 2016.

Biden also showed his famously empathetic side when speaking to questioners who had medical ailments, whose relatives died from Covid-19 or who were suffering financially.

"Thank you for what you do," he told a nurse who voted for Trump in 2016.

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