Donald Trump's an amateur in foreign policy: Kaine

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine today described Donald Trump as an "amateur" in foreign policy and alleged that his not bringing up the issue of who will foot the bill for the 'Mexico wall' when meeting the Mexican President was a "choke".

Kaine, in an interview with CNN, alleged that the Republican presidential nominee did not even have the nerve at the last minute to bring up the issue of who would pay for construction of wall along the Mexico border.

"This is the central piece of his campaign, immigration and deportation, and we're going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. But when he looked President Pena Nieto in the eye, he couldn't even bring that up. That was a choke, and I think it shows that diplomacy is not for amateurs. Donald Trump's an amateur," Kaine alleged.
 

Observing that diplomacy is fundamentally about honesty and candor and standing up for the values that one believes in, Kaine asked why Trump did not raise this issue with the Mexican President if he really believed this.

"Trump's been saying for months, we're going to build a wall and Mexico's going to pay for it. If he really believed that, when he was sitting down with President Pena Nieto, why not even bring that up? And then he goes back, and then to the hometown audience, he gives this fiery speech, a language of division," he said.

This is a language that there is a segment of demagogues that have used, Kaine said.

"It's language of division. We're not going to be a great nation by being deportation nation. Eleven million people. Plus Trump has said he wants to take American citizenship away from 5 million kids who have been born in this country. So let's make it 16 million people. We're not going to be great by having a deportation task force to kick 16 million people out of this country," Kaine asserted.

"It's not about deportation, it's about a comprehensive reform that can help our economy grow and that is true to our nation's values," he said.