During an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace broadcast on Sunday, President Donald Trump questioned former Vice President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, The Hill reported.
Trump posited that the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee would not even be able to handle a contentious interview.
“Let Biden sit through an interview like this, he’ll be on the ground crying for mommy. He’ll say, ‘Mommy, mommy, please take me home.’”
The commander-in-chief described his political opponent as “mentally shot,” dismissing polling that shows the former Delaware senator ahead.
“Let him come out of his basement, go around, I’ll make four or five speeches a day, I’ll be interviewed by you, I’ll be interviewed by the worst killers that hate my — my guts. There’s nothing they can ask me that I won’t give them a proper answer to,” he argued.
Despite the president’s remarks, Biden is increasing his lead in the polls. In the latest Quinnipiac University survey, the Democrat finished 15 percentage points ahead of Trump. The poll showed Trump losing ground with independent voters, also establishing that Americans believe Biden would handle key issues more competently.
Biden is also ahead in key battleground states, polling suggests. A CNBC /Change Research poll released earlier this week found that Trump is lagging behind in Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, with his approval ratings on the economy and the coronavirus crisis in the negative territory.
Although Trump repeatedly questioned Biden’s mental acuity during his interview with Wallace, he refused to say whether he believes the Democrat is senile. However, he stressed that Biden “doesn’t know he’s alive.”
“To be president, you have to be sharp and tough and so many other things,” he said.
Trump also discussed his own mental competence, saying that his general election opponent would not be able to pass a cognitive test.
When Wallace pushed back on the suggestion, pointing out that he took the same test and that it seemed very easy, Trump argued that Biden would nevertheless not be able to pass it.
Some aides have reportedly urged Trump to ramp up his attacks on the Democrat. Per The Inquisitr , White House advisor Stephen Miller reportedly authored a memo urging the president and his allies to change their tone and start depicting Biden as a puppet of the left wing of the Democratic Party.
Trump appears to be following Miller’s advice, given that some of his recent attacks on the Democratic nominee echoed the talking points the advisor laid out in the memo.
