"This is not about can I puff my chest out bigger than yours. It’s just not — it’s not presidential,” Joe Biden told NBC News on Wednesday. | Steven Senne/AP Photo Biden cautions Trump against North Korea taunts: ‘This is not a game’

Former Vice President Joe Biden called President Donald Trump’s war of words with North Korea “not presidential” on Wednesday, cautioning him against engaging the U.S. in a competition over the size of the countries' nuclear arsenals.

“This is not a game. This is not about can I puff my chest out bigger than yours. It’s just not — it’s not presidential,” Biden told NBC News.


Biden’s warning came after Trump warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Twitter Tuesday that the U.S. leader's own nuclear button was "much bigger & more powerful" than his opponent's.

“Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform [Kim] that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” the president wrote.

The North Korean leader during a New Year’s Day national address had told the U.S. to remain mindful that “the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office.”

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Biden told reporters Wednesday that he was “disappointed” in Trump’s response.

“The only war that’s worse than one that’s intended is one that's unintended,” he said.

Trump’s tweet capped a day in which the president repeatedly taunted and threatened his political opponents, both foreign and domestic.

Trump in the past has cautioned North Korea that he would inflict “fire and fury” upon the country if it did not scale back weapons tests.

Biden has spoken on out several occasions against the rhetoric coming out of the White House since he exited office last year. He said Trump's rhetoric on a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year was “eating at the fabric at this country.”

Biden also criticized Trump Wednesday for feeding into the notion that government officials are working to undermine his administration by tweeting about the "deep state."

“It’s totally, thoroughly, completely irresponsible and dangerous,” Biden said of Trump's remarks.

