Biden Gets Candid About Trump: "We Have No Freakin' Idea What He's Gonna Do"

This week, America will swear in a new, controversial president in Donald J. Trump, and our soon-to-be-former vice president, Joe Biden, has a lot to say about this transition. He told the New York Times Magazine exactly what he thinks of this new period in history in a candid interview published Tuesday. Read on to see what Biden predicts — and can't predict — about what the next four years under President Donald Trump might hold.

On how he plans to deal with Trump: Biden says he'll follow the advice of his late friend, former Democratic majority leader Mike Mansfield, when working across party lines: "Question a man's judgment, not his motives." Biden goes on to say he'll hold Trump to account for his actions instead of attacking his character. "It's one thing to say: 'I think the proposal on the following is a serious mistake. I think it's gonna do the following damage.' It's another thing to say, 'The guy's a f*cking idiot, and he is an egomaniac who's a whatever.'" (Is that some shade we detect, Joe?)

On how Trump will impact our foreign relations: Biden was asked about Trump potentially warming relations with Russia and Saudi Arabia, becoming more confrontational with Iran, and how he will deal with fighting ISIS. "It's like a Rubik's cube trying to figure this guy out," Biden admitted when he was asked to predict how the new commander in chief might proceed. "We have no freakin' idea what he's gonna do."

On Trump's ability to lead the world: "The question I get everywhere is: 'Is American leadership going to continue?'" If Trump "just stays behind the lines — hands off — it could be very ugly. Very, very ugly."

On Trump's attack on Obamacare: Biden hopes that Trump's "sense of grandeur is so immense that he'd rather succeed than unleash these forces." Many Trump voters would lose their insurance under the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Biden thinks he would be wise to back off from repealing it.

On his regrets: Biden admits he wishes he'd done more during the 2016 election to make the case for Hillary Clinton instead of just campaigning against Trump. During the Democratic National Convention, Biden gave a speech including the words, "If you live in neighborhoods like the one Jill and I grew up in, if you worry about your job and getting decent pay, if you worry about your children's education, if you're taking care of an elderly parent, there's only one person in this race who . . ." Of that part of the speech, Biden says, "I wish to hell I'd just kept saying the exact same thing."

On running in 2020: "I'll run, if I can walk," Biden says in the article. Shortly after the interview was conducted, he confirmed that plan to the Washington press corps.

Read more of the interview in New York Times Magazine.