In one sentence Joe Biden gives a brutal assessment of Trump's presidency

There is no doubt that Joe Biden is a national treasure who infuses grace and insight into whatever subject he touches on.

At The Late Show, the former vice president gave a tough, clear-eyed assessment of when the Trump presidency started to go completely off the rails.

"There are certain things that, when they occur, you just can't remain silent, and Charlottesville, for me, was a moment where I thought silence would be complicity," he said, referring to Trump's delayed, controversial response to the neo-Nazi violence in Virginia that left one dead and 19 injured.

"To not have an outright, flat condemnation of that…I thought the silence was deafening," he added.

Biden called the current political crisis "a battle for the soul of this country", pointing out that "there's an attack on the system" that goes beyond President Trump, referring to Steven Bannon and the alt-right.

Asked how Trump's un-presidential behaviour will influence future presidents, Biden dryly replied: “I think it will, God willing, go down as the single exception in American history.”