Ex-Vice President Joe Biden slammed Trump for his 'coarse rhetoric' and causing 'political chaos' during a college commencement speech on Sunday.

Biden was speaking to the 480 students of Maine liberal arts institution Colby College when he launched the attack on the current administration.

He complained that the GOP had spent the election appealing to the 'baser instincts' and fears of the electorate, stoked 'our darkest emotions,' and turned Muslims, immigrants and transgender people into scapegoats for a struggling working class.

After calling on students to return to the 'basic principles' of the Constitution, he then congratulated them one by one with handshakes and - for a lot of enthusiastic female students - hugs.

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Speaking out: Joe Biden hit out at Donald Trump and the GOP on Sunday at a commencement speech for Maine liberal arts institution Colby College, condemning 'political chaos'

Graduation day: He told the students and their parents that politicians now were 'bestow[ing] legitimacy on hate speech and fringe ideologies' with their 'silence' and 'coarse rhetoric'

Biden didn't directly name Trump or the GOP, but the targets of the Democrat's ire were clear.

'This past election cycle churned up some of the ugliest realities in our country,' he said during the 40-minute speech.

'Civilized discourse and real debate gave way to the coarsest rhetoric and stoking of our darkest emotions.

'I thought we had passed the days where it was acceptable for politicians at all levels to bestow legitimacy on hate speech and fringe ideologies, even if it was just by their silence,' he continued, saying he was wrong.

The problem, he said, was that both globalization and digitization had led to people being displaced from their jobs - and that led to worry.

That was compounded by the realization that retraining and continued education was necessary to keep up for these people - but they have no 'capacity to do it.'

Disheartening: Biden said politicians had played on the fears of people who are worried about their jobs by creating 'scapegoats' out of Muslims, immigrants and trans people

'We saw how playing to their fears, and appealing to their baser instincts rather than their better angels, as Lincoln talked about, can still be at least temporarily powerful in politics,' he said.

'We saw how appeals to the forces of populism can stoke anxiety and seek to blame the troubles of a rapidly changing world on the other... the immigrant, the minority, the transgender - anyone "not like me" became a scapegoat.'

Biden said that he, like probably many of the graduates, found this 'disorienting' and 'disheartening.'

But he promised that 'it's temporary; I assure you it's transitory. The American people will not sustain this attitude.'

He continued: 'Think about what defines us as Americans. You can not define an American based on their ethnicity. You can not define an American based on their religion.

'You can not define America by anything other than an inherent acceptance of the notions contained within our institutional structures: "We hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal."'

Hugs: Afterward, Biden doled out handshakes and hugs to the students as he congratulated them. Many of the girls seemed delighted to hug him - and he them

'We don't always practice it, but we know that's why we belong, no matter where we come from.

'It's been a long, long climb, an uphill climb, to make it real, and we're nowhere near making it real yet, we haven't always lived up to our ideals.

'We're respected around the world not because of the exercise of our power, but because of the power of our example. That's why we're who we are.'

He added that the students' generation is 'by far the most tolerant' and called on them to be more 'engaged' in the political process.

'You have to be,' he said. 'You have to be, for your own safety's sake.'

After the speech, Biden congratulated graduates as they were called up to the stage.

He mostly doled out handshakes, but gave hugs to those who held open their arms for him.

Several of the female students seemed thrilled to be hugging the 74-year-old liberal heartthrob - and he seemed equally happy.