Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday at the University of Denver that the next president must continue a policy of international engagement, saying “we can neither protect nor advance our interests by turning inward.”

The Democrat said the rising anxieties in the United States toward global engagement and terrorism represent a threat to the nation’s strength and reputation in the world.

“For the first time, the broad consensus … for international engagement is now in question, in question by a significant minority in both political parties, particularly the Republican Party,” Biden told 750 at an annual fundraising dinner benefiting the university’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. “In my view, this is dangerous.”

Biden did not mention Republican nominee Donald Trump by name but argued against the “impulse to hunker down, shut the gates and build walls” in the face of international upheaval.

From terrorist attacks or the immigrant crisis in Europe, Biden said together there is “a feeling of lack of control — that we are being overrun by outside forces. It’s a basic human reaction but unfortunately flamed by demagogues and fanned by populist and xenophobic rhetoric scapegoating Muslims and immigrants.”

The danger, he made clear, “is real — but it is stoked (by politicians) for their own political well-being.”

In his hour-long address, Biden touted the Obama administration’s work to improve America’s standing abroad and linked international affairs to domestic policy.

“To push back the forces of isolationism, you have to first acknowledge that many of the fears and insecurities driving people are real,” he said. “This is the key challenge … how to build and sustain a consensus for internationalist foreign policy while managing the disruptions and legitimate dislocations that actually do stem from globalization. It sure in hell isn’t to not engage in trade. It sure in hell isn’t to reject globalization. It sure in the hell isn’t to walk away from international rule-based order.”

He continued, “The most informed enlightened foreign policy cannot be sustained without the consent of the American people. … We can’t do it unless the people at home think they benefit from it and think they are safer because of it.”

Biden called on the next administration to deepen engagement abroad, because if not, others will rise.

The United States has to lead in writing the rules of the road because otherwise there is a vacuum and our competitors will fill it,” he said, pointing to the “sheer weight of China to alter behavior in a significant way.”

Biden worked closely with the Korbel School’s dean, former Ambassador Christopher Hill, who served as the United States’ representative in Iraq from 2009 to 2010. Now in its 19th year, the dinner previously hosted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush. The school is named for the father of Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state.

Biden attended other private events on his trip to Denver, but not for the Clinton campaign, a spokeswoman said. In April, Biden attended a fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.