Vice President Joe Biden said he’s given up talking about Donald Trump after a dust-up Friday over comments Biden made saying that he wishes he were back in high school so he could “take [Trump] behind the gym,” presumably to fight him.
Biden tempered his remarks about the GOP nominee Monday during a surprise stop at Clinton’s Cleveland campaign office. While he quickly expressed his distaste for Trump, he tried to focus his remarks on Clinton and the importance of getting out the vote for her.
“We all know the nightmare of a Trump presidency,” Biden said. “I’ve given up on talking about Trump.”
“Hillary’s going to win this election,” he quickly added, to applause.
Biden was visiting Cleveland to speak at the Cleveland Clinic’s Annual Medical Innovation Summit. He made the unannounced stop before heading to Toledo and Dayton, Ohio, for Clinton campaign events.
On Friday, Biden made headlines for saying during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania that he finds Trump so repugnant, especially his bragging about groping women, that he wished he were back in high school so he could slug him.
“The press always asks me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’ No, I wish we were in high school. I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and pollster Frank Luntz took to Twitter to accuse the media of failing to hold Biden accountable for his violent remark.
“Had Trump said this, it would be hair-on-fire #breakingnews with ‘violence’ and ‘bully’ trending, high school psychologists on TV panels,” she tweeted.
