Vice President Joe Biden used a Hispanic Heritage month gathering Tuesday night to blast Donald Trump and his comments about illegal immigrants, and said the billionaire’s message is “sick” and has “absolutely denigrated an entire group of people.”
Biden promised at a Naval Observatory event with more than 75 guests, including former Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, to fight Trump’s “xenophobic” message, and said it will not prevail.
“I don’t want anybody to be down right now about what’s going on in the Republican Party,” he said. Biden added that Trump has “absolutely denigrated an entire group of people, appealing to the baser side of human nature, working on his notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn’t occurred in a long time.”
The American people, he said, agree with Democrats’ approach to illegal immigration.
“I know it doesn’t feel that way. But I’m telling you. I’m telling you. The American people agree with us,” he said.
Referring to a story about Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said the foreign leader once asked him to define America in one word. Biden said he chose the word “possibilities.”
“What America’s all about is possibilities,” he said. “And whenever you give anyone in this country, regardless of where they come from, they struggled to get here or born here, they are for looking for a simple proposition, what are my possibilities? If I work I can do anything. Anything at all.”
Given a chance, he said, there “is not a single person fighting to get here, particularly Latinos and Hispanics,” who aren’t capable of taking advantage of the possibilities.
Referring to government-assisted college funding, he said the country should be focused on how to ensure that opportunities remain for attaining the American dream.
Referring to changes in the tax code, he said that more opportunities could be provided to lower income families by making sure the wealthy and the “trust fund babies” don’t get a “stepped up basis.”
If certain tax loopholes are closed, he said the government could take in another $11 billion a year and provide 9 million kids and adults with the opportunity to get a college education.
“So many of you I’ve talked to, and you’re just down with what’s gong on with the other side,” he said, referring to the GOP and Trump.
“I walked out of the house just as Trump was talking on the television,” he said. “Folks, this will not prevail. This will not prevail. And in the meantime, let’s not take our eye off the ball…Continue to fight.”
