Joe Biden joined Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” for the first time since December 2016, when he suggested the American people give President Donald Trump an “even shot” after the election. Now, after everything Trump has done in office, Biden has thrown out that recommendation.
The former vice president went after POTUS’ response to the alt-right-organized rally in Charlottesville in August that left one counter-protester dead.
“Charlottesville, for me, was a moment where I thought silence would be complicity,” Biden said of the now infamous Unite the Right rally.
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“The idea that you would see, in America… Nazis carrying flags, spouting the same bile about Jews that was spouted in Germany in the 30’s, and then these guys crawling out from under rocks, carrying torches, and to not have an outright flat condemnation of that – The silence was deafening,” Biden said of Trump’s reaction to the events of the disturbing rally, in which a protester was run down by a white supremacist.
“And then when the comparison was made to those who were protesting, I found it reprehensible,” the former vice president said, slamming the sitting president for his response, which included a reference to how there was “hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.”
“It goes to the soul of the country.”
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Biden added that he believes Trump has created fear about the stability of the nation.
“I think that a lot of folks in the audience, my guess is, when the president was elected and the political people he gathered around him came into play, you kind of thought it was, well, maybe amusing or a little bit embarrassing sometimes,” Biden said about the late night show’s crowd.
“But it did not go to the heart of who we were,” Biden said. “But, I lay you 8-to-5 – how many of you are now worried about the stability of the republic? How many are now worried about this new phony nationalism and its ‘us against them’? How many are worried about this populism designed to essentially undermine the essence of the Bill of Rights?
Also Read: CNN Contributor Compares Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate to Charlottesville Protesters
“I think people are worried,” Biden continued. “And, by the way, it goes beyond President Trump, in my view.”
You can watch Biden’s interview in the video above.
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