Biden: Trump is ‘thoroughly unqualified’ for presidency

By Ken Thomas, Associated Press

Monday, Aug. 15, 2016 | 11:41 a.m.

SCRANTON, Pa. — Vice President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump's ability to lead America at home and abroad on Monday, branding him as indifferent to the needs of Americans in his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Biden, who decided not to make a third presidential bid last year, said in native city of Scranton that Trump was "totally, thoroughly unqualified" to be president, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

At home, he said, Trump's reveling in his TV reality show tag-line, "You're fired," showed his true colors.

"He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break. It's such a bunch of malarkey," Biden said, adding: "He doesn't have a clue."

Offering himself as a powerful character witness for Clinton, Biden cast the former secretary of state as the most qualified to lead the country, singling out her foreign policy experience. He cited his long history with Clinton, saying he's known her for three decades, since before she was first lady in the 1990s.

"Hillary has forgotten more about American foreign policy then Trump and his entire team will ever understand," he said.

And he cited Clinton's gender as a powerful asset for the job, saying electing the first female president would change the lives of American women and girls.

"Hillary Clinton is going to write the next chapter in American history," he said.

Introducing the vice president, Clinton sought to sow doubts about Trump's ability to bring jobs back to blue-collar communities like Scranton, where Biden lived for the first decade of his life before moving to Delaware.

She acknowledged that many people in the audience might have friends considering voting for the Republican, but offered this advice. "Friends should not let friends vote for Trump," she said.