Donald Trump a 'Diplomatic Embarrassment,' Dem VP Candidate Tim Kaine Says
Kaine knocks Trump for his attempt at international diplomacy.
— -- Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, today called Donald Trump a “diplomatic embarrassment” when asked on “Good Morning America” about the real estate mogul’s trip to Mexico Wednesday.
"I think it was kind of a diplomatic embarrassment,” Kaine said of Trump’s unexpected meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. “He’s been talking for a year about we’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it and then he goes and he sits down and goes eyeball to eyeball with the president of Mexico and, what, he forgets suddenly to bring it up or he’s too afraid to bring it up or he chokes in the meeting.
"It’s just kind of an indication that the guy talks out of both sides of his mouth.”
Kaine was referring to Trump’s claiming that he didn’t discuss with the president who would pay for a wall between Mexico and the United States, even though the president later tweeted that he told Trump his country would not pay for it. A central tenet of Trump’s immigration policy is to build a wall for which Mexico would pay.
Kaine also this morning discussed Trump's immigration speech later Wednesday in Arizona, saying it was a “division and deportation nation strategy.”
During a fiery speech Wednesday night, Trump outlined his immigration policy, reiterating his call for building the wall and telling people living in the United States illegally that there would be a deportation force and no path to citizenship.
"Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. There will be no amnesty,” Trump told the crowd.
Kaine contrasted the Clinton-Kaine immigration policy with Trump’s plan. Kaine said that in the first 100 days of any Clinton administration, he and Clinton would "build a comprehensive package that includes basically support for DREAMers, that includes support for employers, that includes a path for hardworking people to earn the ability to stay here as citizens over many years and also border security. “
The Democrats’ immigration policy is "very different from the division and deportation nation strategy of Donald Trump,” he added.
Kaine addressed the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll that shows Clinton with 56 percent of adults’ viewing her unfavorably, compared with 63 percent of adults’ viewing Trump unfavorably.
"This is going to be a tough race and I didn’t have any illusions about it and Hillary Clinton doesn’t either. We have felt from the beginning that this would be tough,” Kaine said. “We like what we’ve seen since both conventions because we put up a bit of a lead in most of the battleground states. But it’s not a big lead and that just means we’ve got to make our case every day.
"Hillary yesterday -- while Donald was doing his high-profile talking different messages on the two sides of the border -- she was at the American Legion in Ohio talking about America’s role in the world to that important veterans organization."
The Virginia senator also weighed in this morning on NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the national anthem.
“You got to respect people’s ability to act according to their conscience,” Kaine said. “I mean, I’d do it differently. I think if you really thought about issues and about this country, you would do it different.
“And when I heard him explain his rationale, it didn’t really make that much sense to me, but you got to respect people’s ability to act according to their conscience. So I wouldn’t presume to tell him what to do.”