One of former president Donald Trump’s favorite monickers for President Joe Biden is “Sleepy Joe,” in reference to the president’s supposed decline in mental faculties.
However, Trump, who is only three years younger than Biden, is not immune to committing his own public flubs and gaffes, as a recent incident raises doubts on his own mental capability to hold the White House for another four years.
Donald Trump: He Is Getting Old, Too
In a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, Trump attempted to name-drop one of his supposed international leader friends who support him.
“The whole world is exploding. You know I was very honored—Victor Orban, did anyone ever hear of him? He’s probably one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world. Right? He’s the leader of Turkey,” Trump boasted to the crowd.
Except Victor Orban is the prime minister of Hungary, and Turkey’s president is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. However, Orban and Erdoğan do share the distinction of being viewed as autocrats – leaders who wield absolute power in their own countries, similar to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
In another incident, Trump, criticizing Biden’s response toward Russia and the possible threat of a nuclear war, told supporters that Biden was poised to lead America into “World War 2,” and at the same time claimed that he beat former president Barack Obama in the 2016 presidential elections.
World War II ended when the Allied forces defeated Nazi Germany and the Axis powers way back in 1945. Trump did win the 2016 presidential election, but his opponent was Hilary Clinton, not Obama – who in turn, was ineligible for re-election, having served two terms in the White House already.
Joe Scarborough, who was a former representative under the Republican party, mocked Trump’s faux pas, suggesting that Trump’s media team might “want to take out the ‘cognitively impaired’ (in reference to Biden) part of his speeches from now on.”
Jonathan Lemire, who shares a show with Scarborough on MSNBC, echoed the sentiments. “That’s an attack line the Republicans and Trump love to use (against Biden) but, man, that does seem like he was looking in the mirror just there.”
“Trump is only three years younger and anyone watching Trump day in, day out says he’s changed too.” Lemire added.
However, Biden’s own public gaffes have been highlighted more – both in the media and among many prominent Republican personalities, and polls show that voters are more concerned over Biden’s mental capabilities than they are about Trump’s.
According to a fairly recent poll conducted by NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ, only 38.22% of American voters said that they were “very concerned” about Trump’s “cognitive health”. Significantly more voters, or 52.21%, expressed the same concern about president Biden. A larger percentage of voters also said that they were “not at all concerned” about Trump’s mental faculties – 22.91% – compared to the 13.19% the said the same of Biden.
Tim Ramos has written for various publications, corporations, and organizations – covering everything from finance, politics, travel, entertainment, and sports – in Asia and the U.S. for more than 10 years.
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