Vice President Joe Biden said that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is endangering U.S. troops in Iraq with his unfounded accusations that President Obama is responsible for the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s rise.
“The Trump world is already making us less safe,” Biden told an audience of union workers during a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in Ohio on Thursday.
His claim that the U.S. “started” the Sunni-led terrorist group and that he can prove it stokes the urban myth that the U.S. is backing the Islamic State that has already gotten traction in the Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.
“We’re trying now to make sure the Shia [militias] don’t attack American forces or the American Embassy in Iraq,” as a result, Biden said. If the Iraqi people believe “we are supporting ISIS, it puts our children” and troops in danger, he said.
“The man is totally irresponsible,” Biden said.
With Obama traveling abroad, Biden has possession of the codes that unlock the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
He referred to the aide accompanying him holding “the football,” as the suitcase with the codes is called, and said: “Can you imagine giving this guy access to the nuclear codes?” Biden asked, referring to Trump.
“God forbid something happened,” he said. “A guy who says ‘I would consider using nuclear weapons'” in control of nuclear weapons, “my God,” Biden exclaimed. “It’s one thing not to know what the hell card check is, it’s another thing” to be flip about using nuclear weapons, he said.
“But folks, I could have just said, “my name is Joe Biden, I’m for Hillary Clinton and Ted Strickland. Donald Trump is dangerous and it probably would have sufficed,” he concluded.
