Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday night that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has a “sick message” about combating illegal immigration.
“I walked out of the house just as Trump was talking on the television,” Mr. Biden said at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Naval Observatory. “Folks, this will not prevail. This will pass. The Trump and that stuff you’re hearing on the other team, it’s about a sick message.”
Mr. Trump, girding for the second GOP presidential debate Wednesday night, told an audience in Dallas this week that the U.S. is “a dumping ground for the rest of the world.” He has soared to the top of the polls partly on the strength of his pledges to get tougher with border security and illegal immigration.
Mr. Biden, who is weighing a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said Mr. Trump’s rhetoric is reminiscent of the “Know Nothing” party of the 1800s.
“I want you to remember, notwithstanding the fact that one guy absolutely denigrated an entire group of people, appealing to the baser side of human nature, working on this notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn’t occurred in a long time — since the Know Nothing party at the end of the 19th century,” Mr. Biden told the audience, which included baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. “This message has been tried on America many times before. We always, always, always, always, always overcome.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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