The Rev. Al Sharpton called on Democratic presidential candidates to tone down their attacks on rivals Friday morning, urging them to define their policy differences without taking shots at each other.
Sharpton, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” called on candidates to “define” their policy stances while not “wasting a lot of energy” on each other.
{mosads}”Our differences — we should define them, but we should not end up wasting a lot of energy in fighting when it ought to all be directed at who’s trying to turn back the clock in this country,” Sharpton said.
“If you spend more energy in the locker room fighting your teammates, you’re going to lose on the field,” he continued, adding: “The objective is [President] Trump.”
His call comes just days ahead of the second Democratic debates of the 2020 election cycle, which are set to be held in Detroit next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Democratic primary this week saw a number of intraparty spats among candidates as they gear up for the pivotal second debate.
Former Vice President Joe Biden clashed with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) over his rollout of a criminal justice reform plan. Booker accused Biden of worsening racial disparities within the criminal justice system by once supporting the 1994 crime bill widely credited with exacerbating mass incarceration.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) campaign accused Biden of ““standing with health insurance companies and not patients” in his attacks on “Medicare for All.”