Backing former Vice President Joe Biden among Democrats, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., ripped President Donald Trump's administration because of his "shallow understanding of history," something that would set Biden apart in a head-to-head matchup, he said.
"Look, history moves, and if you don't learn from history you can't shape it," Coons told told CBS's "Face the Nation." "One of the things I most respect about Gen. [James] Mattis is how deeply read he is in history. One of my concerns about our current president is his shallow understanding of recent history.
"This frankly is also why I believe Joe Biden would be our best next president, is I think he has deep and wide experience in foreign policy and understands the values of our alliances."
While Biden might have slipped in polling of late, particularly among some missteps in memory and misspeaking, the centrist Democrat has his heart in the right place for American voters, Coons told host Margaret Brennan.
"I've known Joe for decades," Coons said, appearing as a Biden campaign surrogate, Brennan noted. "The reason that I think Joe Biden is consistently top in the polls over and over is because the American people know his heart as I do. They know that he would lead a real change in our place in the world and strengthen our security and prosperity by re-embracing our allies.
"And that frankly in the United States he was called 'middle class Joe' for decades in the Senate because he's never forgotten where he's from – from Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware. He is the person who I think can actually deliver the change that our middle class is looking for.
"That's what Donald Trump ran on, but it's not what he's delivered. I do think a Biden administration would make the changes that would strengthen our middle class."
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