Biden accuses Trump of "modern-day appeasement" over Russia-Ukraine war
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Former President Biden in Chicago in April. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Former President Biden was scathing in his criticism of President Trump's handling of the Russia-Ukraine war and his predecessor's first 100 days back in office during a BBC interview that aired early Wednesday.
The big picture: Biden chose a British broadcaster over a U.S. outlet for his first interview since leaving office to accuse Trump of "not behaving like a Republican president" and to address his concerns — including that there's a greater threat now to democracy than at any time since the Second World War.
- The BBC Radio 4 interview took place in the 82-year-old former president's home state of Delaware ahead of Thursday's 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day, when allied nations accepted Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 — a date President Trump wants to designate as "Victory in World War II Day."
Key takeaways from Biden's BBC interview
BBC journalist Nick Robinson asked Biden about 78-year-old Trump's belief that Ukraine will have to give up territory to achieve peace and suggested some people think this is common sense.
- "It is modern-day appeasement," Biden replied, in a nod to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's efforts to appease Hitler in the 1930s before the Second World War.
- Putin "can't stand the fact that the Russian dictatorship that he runs, that the Soviet Union has collapsed — and anybody that thinks he's going to stop it's just foolish," Biden said.
Zelensky meeting: Biden described the fiery White House meeting Trump and Vice President Vance had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February as "beneath America."
- He criticized other Trump administration actions and threats — renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and talking about retaking Panama and acquiring Greenland and making Canada the 51st U.S. state.
- "What the hell is going on here?" Biden said. "What president ever talks like that? That's not who we are." The U.S. is "about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation," he said.
- Biden said he believes "the Republican Party is waking up to what Trump is about."
2024 race: Biden said he had no regrets about stepping aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential contest and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
- He addressed critics who claimed he should have dropped out of the race sooner. "I don't think it would have mattered," Biden said.
- "We left at a time when we had a good candidate," he continued.
- "Things moved so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away. And it was a hard decision," Biden added. "I think it was the right decision. I think that ... it was just a difficult decision."
NATO threats: The last living U.S. president to be born during the Second World War discussed his fears about NATO dying out and the U.S. withdrawing from world leadership under Trump.
- "I fear that our allies around the world are going to begin to doubt whether we're going to stay where we've always been for the last 80 years," Biden said.
- Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment early Wednesday.
Go deeper: The final days of "Dark Brandon"
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout and to correct the wording of Biden's quote about appeasement.
