President Donald Trump jetted into Joe Biden’s boyhood hometown days after the former vice president secured front-runner status in the race to challenge Trump in November.
During an hour-long Fox News-hosted town hall here, Trump twice defended his divisive rhetoric as a key to his political success, questioned Biden’s mental acuity and predicted a coming together post-election.
Before a friendly audience, Trump faced some pointed, if gently phrased, questions from his own backers. One man who was identified as a Trump supporter asked the president if “we can deliver your message without the controversial rhetoric.”
A notably subdued Trump twice said that he appreciated the question, but defended how he communicates as his way of responding to criticism.
“When they hit us, we have to hit back,” Trump said. “I could turn my cheek, but I wouldn’t be sitting up here if I turned my cheek.”
Trump later mocked Biden over a series of verbal gaffes, pausing for the audience’s laughter, and said, “there’s something going on there.” The president also argued that the House impeachment over his asking a foreign leader to investigate Biden damaged the former vice president more than it did him.
“They aimed at Trump and they took Biden down,” Trump said.
Trump said he’d been prepping for a run against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but now was resetting his sights on Biden. He blamed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who suspended her candidacy for the presidential nomination earlier Thursday, for siphoning votes from Sanders by staying in the race beyond Super Tuesday.
(c) 2020, The Washington Post · Seung Min Kim, Colby Itkowitz
{Matzav.com}
