Former Vice President Joe Biden is claiming that some supporters of President Donald Trump back the notion that “all Mexicans are rapists” and that “all Muslims are bad.”
Biden, the presumptive Democrat nominee, made the comment while addressing donors at a virtual fundraiser on Wednesday. In particular, the former vice president was asked if he was planning to reach out to Trump’s “base” during the general election campaign.
Biden, who has claimed to be the only Democrat capable of winning back white working-class voters, purportedly laughed at the idea of conducting such outreach.
“There are people who support the president because they like the fact that he is engaged in political division,” Biden told the donors. “They really support the notion that, you know, all Mexicans are rapists and all Muslims are bad and … dividing this nation based on ethnicity, race.”
The former vice president, though, did admit that he was hoping to entice some of the people that backed Trump in 2016 to vote for him this time around.
“The people who voted Republican last time … who don’t want to vote for Trump, whether they want to vote for me or not is a different story, but they don’t want to vote for Trump,” he said during the fundraiser. “They’re looking for an alternative, and I think, I hope to God, I can provide that alternative.”
When Biden’s remarks were first reported on social media, they drew immediate comparison to the infamous “basket of deplorables” comment former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made during the 2016 campaign.