Outgoing Vice President Joe Biden has been a critic of president-elect Donald Trump for a while now. After recent remarks made by Trump, Biden has a simple message: be mature.
In an interview with Judy Woodruff of PBS Newshour, Biden, referring to Trump’s recent firebrand tweets against the likes of politicians such as Chuck Schumer, said that Trump needs to greatly improve his maturity levels if he wants to be seen as an actually competent leader.
“Grow up. Time to be an adult. You’re president. You gotta do something. Show us what you have. You’re gonna propose in a legislation. We’re gonna get to debate it. Let the public decide. Let ’em vote in Congress. Let’s see what happens,” Biden said.
In the interview, Biden said that Trump’s policies and effectiveness as a leader will be put to the test once he is actually in office and making the critical decisions that are necessary of a president.
“It’s gonna be much clearer what he’s for and against and what we’re for and against, now that it’s gonna get down to actually discussing, in detail, these issues that affect people’s lives,” Biden said.
Biden also criticized Trump’s insistence that he doesn’t need daily intelligence briefings.
“For a president not to have confidence in, not to be prepared to listen to, the myriad of intelligence agencies from defense intelligence to the CIA, etc. is absolutely mindless,” Biden said.
During the presidential campaign, Biden offered much harsher words for Trump, saying he would like to engage in a physical fight with Trump as if they were both in high school.
“I could take him behind the gym, that’s what I wish,” Biden said.
Now with the transition of power happening, Biden, along with President Obama, is doing his best to be diplomatic about the transition while still being clear about his own opinions and concerns regarding the incoming president and his administration.
As a two-term vice president of a relatively scandal-free administration, Biden definitely has the right to state his mind on how a president-elect should act. Even if he disagrees with Trump’s policies, he is not letting that be his sole reason for criticizing him. Rather, he’s criticizing Trump’s lack of tact and diplomacy. If he can’t be diplomatic towards senators within his own country, then it’s very concerning about how diplomatic he could possibly be with the leaders of other countries.