Vice President Joe Biden said Friday he felt bad for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for having to defend Donald Trump’s positions on everything from creating an immigration deportation force to his praise for Russia and his previous support for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.
“God love him, as my mother would say, but Donald Trump has said so many things that are inaccurate and indefensible, causing his running mate, a decent guy … to make up a whole hell of a lot of facts there on the run,” Biden said in reference to Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.
“I’ve been the vice president, and I’ve been to a few debates, and God, I can’t imagine, I just can’t imagine doing what he had to do for Trump,” Biden added.
The vice president made the remarks Friday during a campaign appearance for Hillary Clinton in Bristol, Pa. But instead of talking about Clinton’s plans for the country or her personal leadership qualities, he spent most of his time skewering Trump and Pence and defending the Obama administration’s record.
Biden went through a litany of facts that Pence was forced to try to defend during the debate, including that Putin is a great leader, that Russia didn’t invade Ukraine, his support for creating a “deportation force” to go “door-to-door” to round up illegal immigrants, his “ban” on all Muslims entering the country.
“When [Sen.] Tim [Kaine] pointed out that our Republican nominee thought it was OK and it made sense to him that Japan and Saudi Arabia become nuclear powers, that Mexican were rapists, that he would ban Muslims – his running mate had to deny every one of those things,” Biden said. “No really, I’m being deadly earnest here.”
Biden then marveled at the fact-checking that took place in the hours after the debate and the instances in which the “networks ran actual clips of Trump saying every one of those things.”
“Look, I’ve been doing this long time, and I’ve never ever seen anything like that before,” he said. “Not one slip, not two, not three, not five – but, I mean, it’s kind of mind-blowing,” Biden said. “So it’s awfully tough being Donald Trump’s running mate.”
