Joe Biden speaks on 2020 presidential bid: 'We're in a battle for the soul of this nation'

'I have to be able to stand in front of a mirror and know that if I don’t run, it’s not because I’m afraid of losing, it’s because there’s somebody better to do it'

Former Vice President Joe Biden has addressed mounting speculation about his possible 2020 presidential bid, saying if he does not run "it’s not because I’m afraid of losing, it’s because there’s somebody better to do it".

Still grieving the loss of his son to cancer and unsure whether he’ll contest the next White House race in less than three years time, Mr Biden said on Friday America was witnessing a battle for the nation’s soul.

Barack Obama's erstwhile deputy – who has traded harsh fighting words with Donald Trump over who would come out on top in a hypothetical fistfight – said the US can’t afford eight years of the current Republican administration.

“We’re in a battle for the soul of this nation,” he said.

“I have to be able to stand in front of a mirror and know that if I don’t run, it’s not because I’m afraid of losing, it’s because there’s somebody better to do it and/or because I’m not in a position to be all in,” he said “The jury is still out. I’ve done nothing to promote running.”

The Democrat spoke before more than 1,500 people at Southern Connecticut State University, hours after he was in Maryland to accept the Naval Academy Alumni Association’s Distinguished Graduate Award on behalf of Republican senator John McCain. Mr McCain is battling glioblastoma, the same aggressive brain cancer Mr Biden’s son, Beau Biden, died from in 2015.

“He’s a very close friend of mine and a political opponent and he’s in tough shape and he asked me to go to Annapolis and speak for him,” Mr Biden said. “He’s my friend. So of course I went.”

Earlier this week, Mr Trump criticised Mr Biden in a morning tweet and suggested he could beat him up. After comments made by Mr Biden, in which he said he would “beat the hell out of” Mr Trump if they were both in high school together, Mr Trump said his opponent would “go down fast and hard, crying all the way”.

He said the former vice president was attempting to “act like a tough guy”, but in fact was “weak” both mentally and physically. Mr Trump warned Mr Biden not to “threaten him”.

“Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault,” Mr Trump tweeted.

“He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!”

The argument began on Tuesday after Mr Biden criticised the President over previous comments he had made about women.

“A guy who ended up becoming our national leader said, ‘I can grab a woman anywhere and she likes it,’” Mr Biden said at an anti-sexual assault rally at the University of Miami.

“They asked me if I’d like to debate this gentleman, and I said no. I said if we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”

Mr Biden ran for Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, but pulled out of both races early.