Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine listens during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., | AP Photo Kaine claims Trump's campaign has reached point of 'desperation'

PHILADELPHIA — Standing in front of an elementary school here Thursday morning, Sen. Tim Kaine said he hopes none of the children inside are learning from Donald Trump, whose campaign he argued has reached the point of “desperation.”

“I don’t think Donald is a good role model, and I don’t think anybody would,” Kaine said, adding that he is worried about what students like those he’d just visited are taking from the Republican presidential nominee’s candidacy.


Kaine told a story of a woman who complained to him in the spring, in the midst of the GOP primary debates, about Trump’s “insult-driven behavior,” comparing it to what was expected of her son on the high school debate team.

“‘If he used language in a high school debate like Donald Trump is using on the campaign trail, even in debates, he wouldn’t just get kicked off the debate team, he’d get kicked out of the high school,’” Kaine said she told him.

Noting his own eagerness to see the finish line with the election now just 33 days away, Kaine insisted that the feeling is very different on the other side.

“There’s a level of desperation,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said, dismissing recent attacks. And with his own debate Tuesday and Trump’s last week at Hofstra, Kaine said he took pleasure in stoking more infighting among his opponents.

“Donald clearly did a very, very poor job at his first debate,” Kaine said, “and then two nights ago, his running mate basically threw him under the bus.”

Kaine said he thinks Republicans are deep in "buyer's remorse" over Trump now that they've hit the final stretch of the campaign.

Asked about Trump changing the title of his latest book from "Crippled America" to, for the paperback edition, "Great Again" — a phrase Kaine himself uses often on the road — Kaine took another swipe.

"I'm seeing whether there's any royalty potential in it for me for making Donald change the name of his book," he said.

