Donald Trump on Monday recalled his “strange” experience going head-to-head with President Joe Biden during last month’s primetime debate on CNN, which saw the Democratic incumbent struggle from the first few moments on.
In a phone interview on Fox News’ Hannity, Trump said his first impression of Biden was that he was pale.
“He looked extremely pale, to put it nicely,” said Trump, who has often been mocked for his orange-hued appearance. “And, I don’t know, maybe it was a good makeup job, or maybe it wasn’t. But he was a very pale-looking man.”
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As for how Biden spoke, Trump told Hannity what many observed.
“When he started to speak, I don’t know, I thought his voice was weak. I did not know exactly what was happening. It was strange,” Trump said, before praising moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
Both CNN staples were roundly criticized in liberal circles for a lack of real-time fact-checking—and few follow-up questions.
“It was a strange evening, I will tell you. It was a strange debate, because within a couple of minutes, the answers given by him were—they didn’t make a lot of sense,” Trump continued, adding later that he intentionally didn’t look at his opponent too often during their 90-minute encounter.
Trump also said it appears to him that Biden will ultimately not drop out of the race amid growing pressure to do so.
“It looks to me that he may very well stay in. He’s got an ego, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that,” Trump said.
It was a markedly different message than what Trump conveyed in leaked footage obtained last week by The Daily Beast from one of his recent golf outings.
“He just quit, you know—he’s quitting the race,” he says in the clip. “I got him out of the—and that means we have Kamala.”
Biden has firmly stated his intention of staying in the contest. Yet the next few days are crucial, with congressional Democrats meeting to discuss the issue Tuesday morning. Biden is also hosting NATO leaders this week, with an accompanying press conference scheduled for Thursday.
