Despite Donald Trump’s suggestions, no one seriously believes that there’s a chance that Joe Biden might be high on cocaine during Thursday’s presidential debate, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
The former president and his MAGA loyalists, as part of their long-running efforts to paint Biden as incompetent and physically unfit for office, have called for the Democrat to submit to a drug test ahead of the debate. Trump himself has outright referenced cocaine when discussing Biden’s prep for their impending showdown.
At a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, Trump suggested Biden would get a “shot in the ass” before the debate and then “come out all jacked up.”
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“I’m sure he’ll be prepared,” Trump continued, before adding: “Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago from the White House?” He was apparently referring to a 2023 incident in which the drug was found in the West Wing. The Secret Service closed its investigation without identifying a culprit.
On Tuesday night, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Johnson for his views on some of the recent rhetoric about Biden from Trump and his team is “out of line” when the they claim “that Biden is going to be on cocaine when he’s on that debate stage Thursday night.”
“Look, there’s a lot of things that are said in jest,” Johnson answered. “Of course no one expects that Joe Biden will be on cocaine.” He nevertheless said he believes people are asking legitimate questions about whether the president will “be on some sort of energy drinks or something.”
Johnson claimed Biden’s energy levels “vary depending on what format he’s in and what forum,” referencing Biden’s State of the Union address in March. “He had a lot of energy that night,” Johnson said. “He had a lot of energy that night, so that’s the Joe Biden I expect to see. But the question is, can he stay for 90 minutes on that stage and go toe-to-toe with President Trump who, as you know, goes to rallies and talks for two hours on end without any break and any notes.”
Collins responded by noting that the allegations about drugs have been “frankly ridiculous,” clarifying they are “obviously baseless as well.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a Trump ally and former White House physician, over the weekend told Fox News he’d be calling for Biden to face a drug test before and after the debate, “specifically looking for performance-enhancing drugs.” He also claimed there was “no way to explain” Biden’s supposedly uncharacteristic performance for his State of the Union address “other than he was on something, that they’d given him medications.”
Trump seemed to like the idea. “DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN???” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday. “I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!”
Biden campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod told CNN on Tuesday that Trump similarly requested that Hillary Clinton undergo a drug test in 2016 too.
“This is what he does because he doesn’t have anything else to run on,” Elrod said, meaning “he has to resort to these types of tactics which are frankly just silly and turn off a lot of voters, especially voters who want to see their president fight for them.”
