Trump's foreign policy reflects 'insecurity of a bully,' Biden says

WASHINGTON — Vice President Biden's speech to a defense establishment think tank Monday is a not-so-thinly veiled rebuttal of Donald Trump's foreign policy, which Biden says reflects "the attitude and insecurity of a bully."

In a preview of his scheduled remarks to the Center for New American Security, Biden says that American leadership stems from "our ability to lead by example and draw partners to our side."

"That’s what has always made America great," he said. "Not empty bluster. Not a sense of entitlement that fundamentally disrespects our partners. Not the attitude and insecurity of a bully."

The remarks seem to be part of a more aggressive White House strategy to rebut Trump's foreign policy talking points. Last week, President Obama attacked Republicans, like Trump, who insist that Obama declare war on "radical Islam."

The White House has released advanced excerpts of Biden's speech Monday afternoon to the Center for New American Security's annual conference, which will address the foreign policy challenges the next administration will face.

While those excerpts don't mention Trump by name, there's no mistaking that Biden is targeting the likely Republican presidential nominee, addressing major points of Trump's foreign policy point by point.

Building a wall on the Mexican border, Biden says, will bring "a return of anti-Americanism and a corrosive rift throughout our hemisphere."

"Environmental disruptions, pathogens, computer viruses, malicious ideologies — these threats don’t respect borders.  And no matter what others may claim, we cannot wall ourselves off from these challenges," Biden's speech says. "Even in simpler times, isolationism never offered more than a false sense of security."

Biden says Trump's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin would be counterproductive and "could call into question America’s longstanding commitment to a Europe whole, free and at peace."

But the vice president is particularly vocal about Trump's proposal for a moratorium on Muslims travelling to the United States, saying that policy "plays into the narrative of extremists."

"Adopting the tactics of our enemies — using torture, threatening to kill innocent family members, indiscriminately bombing civilian populations—not only violates our values, it’s deeply damaging to our security," Biden says. "Wielding the politics of fear and intolerance — like proposals to ban Muslims from entering the United States or slandering entire religious communities as complicit in terrorism—calls into question America’s status as the greatest democracy in the history of the world."