Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that world leaders are worried about a Donald Trump presidency.
“Every place I go … And I’ve met every world leader in the past 35 years … [W]hether I’m reaching across the table to try to solve a problem with Xi, the president of China, or I’m down in New Zealand with the prime minister, they go, ‘Tell me, Trump — that can’t happen, can it?” Biden said on MSNBC’S “Morning Joe” Wednesday morning.
Biden said that the fears of foreign leaders stem from the fact that the Republican presidential nominee “knows nothing about foreign policy.”
“The things he says make absolutely no sense … It worries me,” the vice president said.
Biden did acknowledge that Trump shouldn’t know everything about foreign policy “based upon his background.”
It’s what Trump does — or rather, fails to do — that is the problem.
“But the thing that bothers me is I don’t see any attempt from him to go out and get people who really know on the Republican side,” Biden said.
Biden doesn’t “buy” the idea that Trump wants to befriend Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it’s a problem that he doesn’t know “what Article 5 is” and the importance of NATO.
Trump has received harsh criticism from across the political aisle for saying he won’t protect NATO allies if they haven’t stepped up to the plate for the United States in the past.
Biden also took issue with Trump’s comments from primary debates that as president he wants to bomb “the hell” out of the Islamic State.
“I know he’s trying to be tough but he’s going to go out and carpet bomb,” Biden said, adding, “You want to make friends and influence people in the Middle East, you’re going to go carpet bomb innocent people and bad people at the same time? That’s going to help us fight against ISIS? The things he says make absolutely no sense.”
Biden speaks Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
