Former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenSenate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg What Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Biden says Ginsburg successor should be picked by candidate who wins on Nov. 3 MORE on Monday said that America has learned during President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE's time in the White House that it “doesn't take much to awaken hate."

Biden, speaking at the National Action Network’s Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast in Washington, D.C., said that hate has been “legitimized” in the past two years.

“We've learned in the last two years, it doesn't take much to awaken hate,” Biden said. “To bring those folks out from under the rocks. That part of American society that’s always been there, will always be there, but has been legitimized.”

Former VP Joe Biden at MLK breakfast: "America's been made better, all the struggles many of you have endured and led.



"But we've learned in the last two years, it doesn't take much to awaken hate. To bring those folks out from under the rocks." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/xKtAYOO1kq — ABC News (@ABC) January 21, 2019

Though he did not name Trump directly, Biden’s comments echoed his recent criticism of the president. In October, Biden said that Trump "assigns moral equivalence" to "dark forces" of hatred.

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The former vice president, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, spoke directly to King’s son. He referenced the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., as an example of how “the hate that cut your dad down is still nurtured by those forces of darkness.”

Biden also quoted Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech, saying: “Let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be.”

“We all know what it ought to be,” Biden added. “America’s been made better, all of the struggles many of you in this room have endured and led.”