Joe Biden strongly criticized Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Nick Robinson.
Although Biden didn’t mention Trump’s name directly, he made it clear that he disapproved of how Trump handled international affairs. Biden, who had a mild cold during the interview, said the ideas Trump had – like wanting to take back control of the Panama Canal, buy Greenland, or turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state – were completely out of line. He questioned, “What kind of president talks like that?” He said these ideas don’t represent what America stands for.
According to Biden, America should stand for freedom, democracy, and opportunity – not for trying to take land from other countries.
When asked about peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that would force Ukraine to give up land to stop the war, Biden agreed that this would be a form of giving in to aggression, similar to how people once gave in to dictators to avoid war.
He went on to explain that Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine belongs to Russia and that he sees it as part of an old historical claim. Putin, Biden said, wants to rebuild a version of the old Soviet alliance called the Warsaw Pact. Biden argued that Putin still can’t accept that the Soviet Union collapsed and is now trying to grab land that doesn’t belong to him. Biden said it’s naive to think that a dictator like Putin will stop if we let him take land by force. He stressed that letting a leader act this way only encourages more aggression.
