President Joe Biden repeatedly lost his cool during an NBC News interview with Lester Holt on Monday, where he stumbled over his responses and made several false claims. When Holt questioned the appropriateness of Biden’s inflammatory language against former President Donald Trump, especially following the recent assassination attempt, Biden falsely claimed he does not use inflammatory language against Trump.
Let’s fact-check that claim, shall we? Biden has a history of making aggressive remarks about Trump. Here are some examples:
- On March 22, 2018, Biden boasted, “If we were in high school, I’d take him [Trump] behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”
- On September 1, 2022, Biden stated, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
- Fast forward to March 21, 2024, and Biden compared Trump’s rhetoric to that of Hitler: “That’s Hitler’s language. That’s not America’s.”
- On June 28, 2024, Biden declared, “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
- By July 8, 2024, Biden had ramped up his rhetoric even further: “It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
- And on July 12, 2024, Biden reiterated, “Trump is a threat to this nation.”
Biden’s refusal to commit to debating Trump before the next debate in September raised more eyebrows. When Holt pressed him on whether he was eager to “get back on the horse,” Biden snapped back, “I’m on the horse! Where have you been?”
Biden then attempted to assure the American public of his mental acuity, insisting, “What I’m doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don’t need notes, I don’t need teleprom…”
When asked about his evident cognitive decline, Biden grew visibly irritated, demanding that the media focus on Trump’s false claims instead. He then proceeded to fumble over his words, further underlining the very concerns Holt was questioning him about.
In this interview, Biden’s defensiveness and outbursts did little to dispel doubts about his fitness for office, and his attempt to deflect criticism onto Trump only added to the circus. If this is his strategy to demonstrate “command of all faculties,” one has to wonder how he plans to convince voters that he’s the steady hand America needs.
