Vice President Joe Biden took a direct shot at Donald Trump and his supporters Wednesday by telling Latin American bankers and diplomats that the U.S. cannot “wall ourselves” off from the most pressing challenges with our southern neighbors.
He also cast “nativists” as unsympathetic to the plight of immigrants and provided a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, and concluded that “God-willing, we will be succeeded by a woman who shares our viewpoint.”
During remarks to a conference in Washington hosted by the Development Bank of Latin America, Biden said it makes no sense to build the border wall that has become Trump’s biggest campaign pledge. Biden said the wall would prevent the U.S. from making progress on Zika, climate change and other issues.
“No wall can be built – none – that can do that,” he said to thunderous applause. “These challenges can only be met by a change in attitude and everybody doing their part and cooperating more with basic fundamental standards of behavior.”
He warned that “the opportunities” to help bolster the economies of Central and South American countries and curb corruption “can slip away if we fail to follow through with our commitments, if we pull back from the region,” he said.
Biden also mocked “nativists” for what he said is their failure to empathize with immigrants’ decisions to give up everything they own to embark on an arduous journey to the United States to try to make life better for their families.
“What our nativists don’t understand – it’s not like people sit around a rough-hewn wooden table having a meager breakfast, and say, ‘Y’know, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s sell everything we have, let’s give it to a coyote or a criminal organization,'” he said.
“‘They’re going to take us and drop us across the border in the middle of the desert, in a country that says they don’t want us, with a language we don’t speak … Won’t this be fun – let’s go!'” he said.
He gave credit to immigrants for helping to create the U.S. ethic of hard work and ingenuity.
“One of the reasons why we’re one of the most innovative countries in the world is we’ve had an unrelenting stream of immigrants … the most courageous, the brightest, the most adventuresome, the most optimistic,” he said. “Because it takes an awful lot of courage to pick up and go because they had this sense about taking a chance to make it better for my family.”
“You cannot define for me who an American is based on religion, on ethnicity, race,” he argued. “It’s an attitude.”
