Joe Biden used references to boxing and schoolyard fisticuffs in an effort to shut down claims that he’s intimidated by Donald Trump, CNN reports, in an interview with Chris Cuomo that aired Friday.
When the topic of Biden supposedly being intimidated by Donald Trump came up, Biden compared Trump to a schoolyard bully.
“He’s the bully that I’ve always stood up to. He’s the bully that used to make fun when I was a kid that I stutter, and I’d smack him in the mouth,” Biden said.
Biden then went on to reference a moment that took place during the 2016 debates — a moment that Biden seemed to suggest was a sign of physical aggression from Trump. As Hillary Clinton spoke, Trump appeared to crowd behind her. Biden, making flicking motions with his hands, seemed to invite Trump to try that with him.
“I’m looking forward to this man. You walk behind me in the debate. Come here, man,” Biden said.
This wasn’t the first time Biden and Trump have exchanged references to schoolyard fisticuffs in talking about, and potentially to, one another. As Huffington Post reported at the time, in March 2018, Biden was speaking at an anti-sexual violence rally in Miami when the subject of how Trump allegedly treats women came up. Biden said that, in his high school days, had he been around a classmate who treated women the way Trump allegedly did, he would “take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”
Joe Biden: “I think it’d be great to have a female VP” https://t.co/A1WmIi24VF pic.twitter.com/twvhZdJp8f
— The Hill (@thehill) July 5, 2019
In a tweet , Trump responded that, in a fight, Biden would “go down fast and hard, crying all the way.”
References to brawling and fistfights aside, Biden seemed to suggest that he would have a rather easy time beating Trump in the election, as all he (Biden) would have to do is be himself. He could beat Trump “by just pointing out who I am and who he is and what we’re for and he’s against,” Biden said, via Yahoo News .
He accused Trump of being racist and of fomenting hate, saying it’s the only way Trump can sustain himself.
The interview comes as Biden, once considered the front-runner among the crowded field of 2020 Democratic Party nomination contenders, has seen his momentum take some hits in the wake of the NBC News debates last week. As The Hill reported earlier this week, Biden is now in a virtual tie for the lead, along with Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.
