Former Vice President Joe Biden on
Sunday criticized President Donald Trump's policies in an op-ed
published in The Atlantic.
In his essay, titled “We are living
through a battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden claims that
through Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesvile and his
decision to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio the
president has emboldened white supremacists.
“We have fought this battle before –
but today we have a special challenge. Today we have an American
president who has publicly proclaimed a moral equivalency between
neo-Nazis and Klansmen and those who would oppose their venom and
hate. We have an American president who has emboldened white
supremacists with messages of comfort and support,” Biden
wrote.
“A week after Charlottesville, in
Boston, we saw the truth of America: Those with the courage to oppose
hate far outnumber those who promote it. Then a week after Boston, we
saw the truth of this president: He won’t stop. His contempt for
the U.S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no
bounds.”
“Now he’s pardoned a
law-enforcement official who terrorized the Latino community,
violated its constitutional rights, defied a federal court order to
stop, and ran a prison system so rife with torture and abuse he
himself called it a 'concentration camp.'”
“You, me, and the citizens of this
country carry a special burden in 2017. We have to do what our
president has not. We have to uphold America’s values. We have to
do what he will not. We have to defend our Constitution. We have to
remember our kids are watching. We have to show the world America is
still a beacon of light,” Biden added.