(CNN) Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday forcefully pushed back against criticism that he is naïve to think Democrats can work with Republicans in Congress after President Donald Trump leaves office.

Biden has campaigned on his ability to cut deals with GOP leaders, arguing that some Republican lawmakers will change if Trump is ousted in 2020. His leading Democratic rivals have instead railed against a political system they say has long been broken and must be changed, and critics of Biden's approach have said his approach ignores Republican efforts prior to Trump to obstruct Democrats, particularly during the Obama administration.

"If you start off with the notion there's nothing you can do, well why don't you all go home then, man? Or let's start a real physical revolution if you're talking about it. Because we have to be able to change what we're doing within our system," Biden said Monday at the Poor People's Campaign Presidential Forum in Washington.

Biden's comment came in response to a question from MSNBC's Joy Reid, who asked how Biden would overcome the opposition to nearly all Democratic ideas during former President Barack Obama's tenure from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

"Joy, I know you're one of the ones who thinks it's naïve to think we have to work together," Biden said. "The fact of the matter is, if we can't get a consensus, nothing happens except the abuse of power by the executive. Zero."

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