A defiant Cory Booker slammed Joe Biden yesterday for supporting “white supremacist” rhetoric and “racist policies,” adding that “men like Biden strip black Americans of our very humanity.”

Booker, who sits in 7th place among Democrat primary hopefuls behind Beto O’Rourke, said “you don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’ but I’d be happy to serve as Vice President even if Biden doesn’t apologize.”

The kerfuffle started when Biden reminisced about the early days of his Senate career when he joined a Democrat caucus that included staunch segregationists like Herman Talmadge of Georgia and James Eastland of Mississippi.

Biden punched back twice as hard.

“Apologize for what?” Biden said. “Democrats had ya’ll in chains back then, but they never called me boy, they always called me son.”

Biden then said Booker should apologize. “Yes, I worked with segregationists, but I’d be happy to have Cory under me in the White House even if he doesn’t apologize.”