#Joe Biden says 10-15 percent of Americans are ‘just not very good people’

Joe Biden told supporters during a virtual town hall Thursday that the US is an overwhelmingly “decent” nation — but added that there are “10 to 15 percent of the people out there” that are “just not very good people,” according to reports.

“The words a president says matter. So when the president stands up and divides people all the time, you’re going to get the worst of us to come out. The worst in us all to come out,” Biden said during the event with Young Americans hosted by actor Don Cheadle, ABC News reported.

Ryan Wilson, CEO of the Gathering Spot in Atlanta, asked Biden how he was going to lead differently and what he would do for African-Americans, and “if it’s true that you can’t truly lead people if you don’t love people,” according to USA Today.

“I love people,” replied Biden, who accused President Trump of dividing the country and said that when a leader does that “you’re going to get the worst of us to come out.”

He continued: “Is this really as good as we think we can be as a nation? I don’t think the vast majority of people think that.”

“There are probably anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the people out there, they’re just not very good people,” Biden said.

“But that’s not who we are. The vast majority of people are decent. We have to appeal to that and we have to unite people, bring them together,” the former veep added.

His remarks drew comparisons to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 comments about half of then-candidate Donald Trump’s supporters being a “basket of deplorables”  — as well as GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s 2012 comments that 47 percent of Americans were dependent on government aid.

Biden began the discussion Thursday with an acknowledgment of the privileges he enjoys as a white man in America.

“I’m a white man. I think I understand, but I can’t feel it. I mean I feel it, but I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man walking down the street and be accosted,” he said.

“To a black man walking down the street be arrested, be a black man walking down the street and God forbid something worse happened to me,” Biden continued.

“I don’t have any idea what it’s like to be treated in a prejudiced way as a black man. But I do know what it’s like to be humiliated. Because when I was a kid, I used to stutter — like that,” he said.

“I am used to bullies. I am used to people who take advantage of people. I am used to people who in fact just try to exert power for their own egotistical reasons,” he added.

Biden also said people may be right to say he has not done enough to solve issues.

“Sometimes with no good reasons, they’re hungry, they don’t think I have proposed enough to get things done. They may be right, but what I found is, I learned from them,” he said.

The former veep also echoed some of the sentiment from a speech he gave earlier this week after a weekend of protests that were marred by violence and looting after the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Hate didn’t begin with Donald Trump. It’s not gonna end with him. The history of our country is not a fairy tale,” Biden said.

“We’re in a battle for the soul of this nation that has been a constant push and pull for over 200 years. I call every American to ask themselves, ask them the following — is this who we are, what we’re seeing now? Is this we want to be? Is this what we will pass on to our kids and our grandkids?” he said.