Washington: US Vice President Joe Biden has assailed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s ability to lead America, branding him as “dangerously uninformed” and “unqualified” while making a strong pitch for Hillary Clinton as the next president.
“Donald Trump is dangerously uninformed… His unabashed admiration for Vladimir Putin, one of the most disruptive and dangerous leaders in the world today, his lack of awareness that Russia has already invaded Ukraine, occupying Crimea to his credit, he financially realised, that Crimea is part of Ukraine,” Biden said at an election rally in Florida.
“I’ve known every major world leader for the past 37 years personally. I have never in my career seen as many foreign leaders with such anxiety about the possibility that Donald Trump could be elected president,” he said.
“I was in Australia with the prime minister talking about China and our rebalance policy toward the Pacific. And I got a call from a friend who happens to be the prime minister of Latvia,” he said.
“Would I get in the plane and travel to the Baltic States to meet with the three leaders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia to assure them this is not a joke to assure them that Trump does not speak for the nation, does not speak for Republicans, because when he said that he was not sure he would keep the sacred commitment the US made in NATO if Russia invaded unless they had paid 2 per cent of their GDP when he said that, he literally shook all of Eastern Europe.
“He’s not even close to the president yet, and he’s doing enormous damage to our reputation,” Biden said. Biden alleged Trump’s “cavalier talk about a nuclear arms race” in Asia is playing into the hands of Hezbollah and ISIS.
“But if being the most uninformed candidate in presidential history is not enough to disqualify him, his lack of any sensibilities to what the American spirit is, the way he comports himself, the words he utters, are truly beneath the office of the presidency,” he said.
Biden said Trump’s policy proposals are equally as erratic and ill-suited for a country that is on the verge of the most exceptional renaissance that the US has had since the end of World War II.
“While Hillary Clinton’s are designed to lift up the middle class, move the country forward so that we can and we will own the 21st century,” he said.
The outgoing Vice President also called Trump’s record on domestic policy unacceptable, noting Trump rooted for the collapse of the housing market, bragged that not paying federal taxes made him “smart,” and stiffed small businessmen who worked Biden praised Clinton’s policies to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top; including her commitment to achieve debt-free college and the need to eliminate tax loopholes that have no positive impact on growth.
But those policies can only be implemented with a large voter turnout this November, Biden said, adding, “We got a lot more to do. And Hillary knows what we have to do to seize this immense opportunity.”
PTI
