As President Joe Biden sat down with ABC News to explain away his less than stellar debate performance and unequivocally assure host George Stephanopoulos that he plans to “stay in the race,” former President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies wasted no time attacking the sitting president’s mental and physical fitness to serve another term.
Per the usual Trump loyalist playbook, the attacks were two parts conspiracy, one part delusion, and equal parts catty, as they took to Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, to advance the narrative that the sun is setting on Biden’s health while Trump somehow remains immortal.
Former Trump senior advisor Jason Miller tweeted, “We need to hear directly from Dr. O’Connor. He’s been covering this up for 3 1/2 years,” referring to presidential physician Kevin O’Connor. Miller finished his tweet with the hashtag #CoverUp, where everything from UFO sightings to tattoos have become topics of discussion under the hashtag.
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Trump political advisor Steven Cheung chose to focus on Biden’s response to Stephanopoulos after the host asked him if he watched the playback of his debate with Trump. To which Biden responded, “I don’t think I did.”
Cheung tweeted, “How the hell do you not know if you re-watched the debate?”
Failed 2022 GOP congressional candidate and Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted “Biden is in denial and in decline.”
Meanwhile, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly took the road of being more concerned for Biden’s legacy than his political affiliations. She tweeted, “I’m genuinely sad/angry over what these ppl around him are doing to Joe Biden. He deserves better than to go out like this. The answer is to let him retire w/some dignity. Not to keep forcing the critically wounded racehorse to run more.”
Yet no Trump-related discourse would be complete without a word from the mayor of Trumpworld, the former president’s favorite fan in the south, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham slammed Biden, and Stephanopoulos’ skills as an interviewer, as he claimed that there wasn’t a “single challenge” to Biden’s thoughts that American is better under his leadership.
“That was not a media interview of a sitting President. That was a therapy session with a former Democratic operative begging President Biden to get out of the race,” Graham tweeted. “America is hurting and the world is on fire.”
We have to respectfully agree that indeed the world is on fire, but probably not for the reasons Graham believes.
Graham said, “This interview was a disservice to the American people,” adding that to suggest the debate was a “bad night” instead of “a deteriorating condition is not only disingenuous, it’s an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
Questions about President Biden and former President Trump’s mental capacities aside, what is clear is that each side is leaning into this narrative that one is more mentally fit over the other. The claws have officially come out in this presidential race, and it is only going to get more intense.
