Vice President Joe Biden says he’s not happy with how Republican front-runner Donald Trump is dealing with the issue of immigration, in a wide-ranging “60 Minutes” interview about his decision not to run for president.
“I’m disappointed in Donald Trump,” Biden said. “I know what a showman and all that he is. But I really, I really don’t think it’s healthy and I hope he reconsiders this sort of attack on all immigrants. I think that is, I think that is beneath the country.”
“I hope he really doesn’t believe it,” Biden added.
Trump made a splash when he first announced by saying Mexico is sending criminals and rapists to the U.S., comments that won his derision from Democrats but seemed to immediately shoot him to the top of the Republican field. Trump has been at or near the top for months, although Ben Carson has taken over the lead in Iowa in some recent polls.
Biden also addressed his recent commetns that he doesn’t want to see Republicans as the enemy, a line many thought was a shot at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. But Biden insisted in his interview that he was not aiming those comments at Clinton.
“That wasn’t directed at Hillary,” he said. “That… that was a reference to Washington. All of Washington.”
“She was being more humorous than she was direct about that,” Biden added. “I do know it’s the view of many people… how in God’s name can we govern this country… if we view the opposition as an enemy?”
Biden also made it clear that he did declined to enter the race, because he thought he would lose.
“Couldn’t win,” he said. “I’ll be very blunt if I thought we could’ve put together the campaign that that our supporters deserve and our contributors deserved, I would have gone ahead and done it.”
Biden said he will never run again for political office.
“I can do so much more,” he said. “I hope I leave office in… as a respected figure who can—convene people and… bring people together.”
He also denied that the wishes of his dying son Beau Biden to run for president were anything as romantic as has been reported.
“There was not what was sort of made out as kind of this Hollywood-esque thing,” Biden said. “That at the last minute Beau grabbed my hand and said, ‘Dad, you’ve got to run, like, win one for the Gipper.’ It wasn’t anything like that.”
