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Responding to President Trump's insistence that the Democratic Party "wants to go socialist medicine," Joe Biden said at the presidential debate on Tuesday: "I am the Democratic Party."
Why it matters: Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Democratic nominee is not in control of his party and that he will be "dominated" by progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Unlike other candidates who Biden ran against in the Democratic primary, he does not support Medicare for All or abolishing private health insurance.
The exchange:
BIDEN: "He knows that what I proposed, what I proposed is that we expand Obamacare, and we increase it, we do not wipe any — one of the big debates we had with 23 of my colleagues trying to win the nomination that I won, were saying that Biden wanted to allow people to have private insurance still. They can, they do, they will under my proposal."
TRUMP: "That's not what you've said, and that's not what your party has said."
BIDEN: "That is simply a lie."
TRUMP: "Your party wants to go socialist medicine."
BIDEN: "The party is me. Right now, I am the Democratic Party."
TRUMP: "They're going to dominate you, Joe, you know that.
BIDEN: "I am the Democratic Party right now. The platform of the Democratic Party is what I, in fact, have approved of."