Former Vice President Joe Biden talked with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, and, in regard to sitting president’s term, said, “I think it will, God willing, go down as the single exception in American history.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared on CBS’ ‘Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ on Monday night, and, naturally, the topics of politics and President Trump came up.
In regard to the sitting president’s term, Biden told Colbert, “I think it will, God willing, go down as the single exception in American history.”
Biden also noted that while members of the outgoing administration generally give a new leader time to settle in before making them the subject of public comments and criticism, “There are certain things that, when they occur, you just can’t remain silent.”
“Charlottesville, for me, was a moment where I thought silence would be complicity,” he continued. “To not have an outright, flat condemnation of that…I thought the silence was deafening.”
In the wake of the August violence that saw rally participants including white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other such groups and sympathizers clash with counter-protesters, taking the life of one, President Trump attributed the melee and its outcomes to “both sides.”
Early in November, Biden, at a Philadelphia event hosted by Axios, specifically touched upon the effect president’s reactions to events like Charlottesville is having on the nation.
He said that Trump’s divisive rhetoric is, “eating at the fabric at this country,” and has eroded the nation’s sense of civility. “You can disagree on issues but this has gotten so, sort of, coarse, so vile, so demeaning,” the former vice president noted. “And our children our listening.”
“This penchant for self-aggrandizement and this penchant for tweeting, this penchant to focus so specifically and eternally on what he does or doesn’t do, even if he was right about everything, is sending a message to all of you and sending a message to your younger siblings that is just totally inappropriate,” Biden said of Trump’s behavior at a mid-October event.