Donald Trump attacks Biden's cognitive health in possible general-election preview

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Donald Trump attacks Biden's cognitive health in possible general-election preview

President says ‘there’s something going on’ with Democratic candidate in first public event since Super Tuesday

Adam Gabbatt in Scranton
@adamgabbatt
Fri 6 Mar 2020 08.57 GMT
First published on Fri 6 Mar 2020 02.21 GMT

Donald Trump attacked Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities on Thursday night during an event in the former-vice president’s hometown that could set the tone for an ugly general election.

Appearing at a Fox News town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Trump – who has faced repeated scrutiny over his own mental acuity – said there was “something going on” with Biden, in what may prove a rehearsal for Republican attacks during the presidential election.

Thursday marked Trump’s first public event since Biden’s surprisingly strong performance on Super Tuesday, when he won 10 out of 14 states available to propel him into the lead in the Democratic primary. Trump said he had been “all set” to face Biden’s rival Bernie Sanders, whom he called a “communist”, until the recent vote.

“Then we have this crazy thing that happened on Tuesday, which [Biden] thought was Thursday, but he also said 150 million people were killed with guns and that he was running for the United States Senate. There’s something going on there,” Trump said.

Biden – who did say those things – has a track record of gaffes and has turned in bumbling debate performances, but Trump’s line of attack raised the unedifying spectacle of an election focused on two men in their 70s attacking each other’s alleged cognitive decline.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/05/donald-trump-joe-biden-health-attack

[rzemanfl]

1. Fuck you Drumpf, you Nazi. n/t

[Celerity]

15. indeed

[Mike 03]

2. If I had Bloomberg's ear I'd beg him to go after Trump's mental fitness, to

really go there, hard. There's a surfeit of material, enough for twelve separate ads at least. Maybe he could touch the "untouchable" issue of drug abuse. And secondly, to go after the nepotism and rip Trump's kids to shreds in a pre-emptive strike against the forthcoming attacks against Hunter Biden.

[squirecam]

22. Watch the videos here on that point.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1235222067437547526

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheClearCider/status/1235241182860587008

https://mobile.twitter.com/chunkled/status/1235561744312852481

https://mobile.twitter.com/MysterySolvent/status/1223465552007651328

[Me.]

3. Why Wouldn't He, THe Bernie People Gave Him The Lead In

there was a woman on Chris Hayes, a BS supporter, who could hardly contain herself and kept saying Biden didn't know the difference between his wife and sister or whether he was a veep or a senator

[underpants]

6. That's on talk radio too

Joe turned the wrong way Tuesday night and spoke of his wife while motioning towards his sister. He quickly corrected himself but that was enough for the RW machinery.

He did misspeak about running for Senate. Again, that’s legend and lore now on talk radio.

[dansolo]

9. Stop repeating false statements

Joe didn't misspeak about running for Senate. He was retelling a story back when he was running for the Senate for the first time.

[underpants]

11. Ok. That I didn't know. I apologize

I saw that on CNN.

[Celerity]

18. no reason to apologise at all, that poster you replied to is not being truthful

see

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287639299#post17

[BusyBeingBest]

13. No, that's not true. I watched a three minute clip--

he misspoke. He was rushing through his speech too fast in a yada-yada way because he was under a time constraint and was obviously not listening to himself. It wasn't that damaging.

[Celerity]

19. [phone]

[Celerity]

17. no, you are wrong, he simply misspoke, he was NOT retelling some story, this is patently false

I have seen this disinfo about some 'story' so many times. I couldn't care less about Biden simply misspeaking, but I do take issue with people trying to push pure bollocks that is instantly debunked. It is a bad look, and it makes the entire thing look far worse than it was.

Chapman lied, the original Reuters story was true and the video was not edited.

Here is the full unedited speech (at the bottom, the 2nd video) leading up to it.

Link to tweet

[democrattotheend]

31. Right, because Trump wouldn't go there otherwise

He's such a decent man that he wouldn't have gone there unless some Bernie supporter did.

How is this any different from Bernie being pressed to release more health records? Both of our potential nominees are over 70 and their health (physical and mental) is fair game, IMO. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have questions about whether Biden is as sharp as he was 8 and 12 years ago.

And at a minimum, with Biden as the nominee it'll be harder to make an issue of how incoherent Trump often sounds.

[underpants]

4. It's all you hear on talk radio

They stick to their messaging.

I’ve heard direct mentions of dementia on talk radio.

BTW - “Creepy Joe” is surely coming back too. Pics of Biden around children and everything from hints to suggestions that he likes children too much. I saw this a lot a year ago or so but it’s faded. I won’t be surprised when it comes back.

[Sugarcoated]

7. Every time I see that

I have my pics, memes, links to articles and youtube interviews with crooked Don's rapes and sexual assaults. I look at these as an opportunity to educate the public, and very thorough education. I play hardball. Because after all, crooked Don IS a pedophile. It's the damn truth.

[Sloumeau]

5. The guy who thinks that it is OK for people with coronavirus to go to work...

the guy who never seems to think that the coronavirus is a problem, the guy who thinks Mike Pence should lead up the coronavirus response team, the guy who has uttered over 16,000 lies and misleading statements, thinks that Biden's cognitive health is at issue. LOL.

[Sugarcoated]

8. A guy who thinks it's okay to go to Jeffrey Epstein parties

and allegedly rape a couple of 13 year old girls.

[William769]

10. His conccern is noted.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

12. It is pretty well know that Trump has cognitive problems

He never lets us forget about it with his constant inane tweeting. Another case of the pot calling the kettle black.

[democrattotheend]

33. Agreed, but with Biden as the nominee

It'll be harder to make this an issue, sadly. I don't think Biden has cognitive problems but he comes across as though he does to some. I don't think Bernie is great at inspiring confidence either, though, because while he is sharp and doesn't stumble like Biden, he just repeats the same talking points and from what I've seen so far, like when he was on with Rachel the other night, he just pivoted back to his talking points about the virus demonstrating why we need universal health care instead of really getting into how he would address the immediate crisis.

I really wish Warren hadn't dropped out because she was the best candidate to draw a contrast with Trump on competence and grasp of the issues. Which didn't help Hillary as much as it should have, but with the corona virus crisis spreading and Trump being so inept at handling it, I think drawing this contrast would have worked very well, just like it did in 2008 after the financial crisis.

[ooky]

14. Trump said there were airports during the American Revolution

I would suggest to run ads of that speech in response to cognitive attacks. And don't forget to include sound bites of "Tim Apple" and "Marillyn Lockheed".

[nolabear]

16. That door swings both ways, Spanky.

[titaniumsalute]

20. I can't imagine that too many people will be swayed by this bullshit

I mean people can clearly see the rambling, slurring speeches from Trump themselves. Joe might gaffe but he isn't a bad speaker at all.

[BusyBeingBest]

21. I have to admit that I am a little nervous that Joe could

give them some real ammo on an off day, but with a good nasty mocking ad campaign against tRump, we could make him look ten times as out-to-lunch as Joe would ever be.

[titaniumsalute]

25. One thing that Bloomberg's campaign did was really go after the fallacies of Trump

If Bloomberg decides to keep his creative ad people and his bankroll involved for Biden he could be the bad guy attacking the shit out of Trump at every given turn on TV, radio, digital billboards, social media, etc.

[captain queeg]

23. If they ever have a debate, the moderators ought to have a cognitive test on hand

To administer live to both of them. Pull it out as soon as Trump tries accusing Biden of mental decline. Of course Joe would be all for it, but Trump would have To make ridiculous excuses on live TV. Then the studio office could all laugh loudly at the cowardly, clumsy, Confused clown.

[Sunlei]

24. Ds will neuter these R attacks soon as Biden selects a younger, articulate VP

Campaigning is an exhausting process. We can expect these kind of Republican attacks to ramp up along with much more if Biden gets the nod.


In particular Ds can count on the main 3 attacks by Republicans. Bidens age/gaffes, Bidens adult sons job and the Biden families lovable tendency to hug people.

Unlike President Trump, Joe Biden has a wide range of decades long friends and loyal administration, and will have a young articulate VP always at his side.

I am confident if anything (god forbid) was to happen to a President Biden, his VP/administration would be able to pick up the reins without a hitch.


Actually IMO if President Trump dropped dead today the country would be better off without his bullshitting.

[OhZone]

26. Just have a covfefe and chill!

[totodeinhere]

27. Oh yes, they are going to ride this phony attack line for all it's worth.

Never mind that Trump's cognitive health is much worse. But that won't stop them.

[California_Republic]

28. A " turd blossom " tactic

[thegoose]

29. Projecting again

Miserable piece of shit — with circus peanuts.

[LakeArenal]

30. Cenk mentioned "mental faculties" while his own were melting down.

This is the exact problems with “Democrats” giving the GOPee material.

[LakeArenal]

32. Doncon never misspeaks...

Only after his misspelling anyway.

(Sarcasm)

[Chainfire]

34. Not being a great and polished public speaker

Has nothing to do with a person's intelligence or cognition. I would throw this back in Trump's face:

https://www.newsweek.com/

[mcar]

35. Not just Trump

Link to tweet

?s=20

Numerous prominent Bernie Sanders supporters have been claiming for three days now, with zero proof, that Biden has dementia. Several of them all at once. It’s clearly organized. And rather incredible, considering Sanders is turning 79 soon, and had a recent heart attack.

[onetexan]

36. This is an easy one

Team Biden should collect all the crazy things the Idiot has said over the course of these past 3 damning years and have Joe recite them on &on &on. Let the Idiot's own words sink him.

[Blue_Tires]

37. This is a smear direct from Moscow

Folks will do well to mark which high profile "liberal" pundits are parroting it nonstop on social media...

[radius777]

38. Biden has some 'senior moments'

but voters 'know Joe' and view him as a good person, despite his flaws.

Trump is a deranged sociopath who must be removed from office.

The choice is clear, and I fully expect Biden to crush Trump, as moderates and others flock to the polls to restore normalcy.

[NYMinute]

39. It is not just Donald Trump

Bernie supporters are also at it. I saw several posts here today insinuating the same thing.

Then there is Cenk Uygur's tweet.