As former President Donald Trump prepares to make another run at the presidency in 2024, he's added a new bit to his rally speeches. He stumbles around on stage acting confused and mocks President Joe Biden for being too old to lead the nation. Trump is just three years younger than Biden.
What To Know: Biden has taken his fair share of bad falls during his time as president and Trump is using that to exploit the commander-in-chief.
At several recent rallies, Trump called out Biden's apparent lack of awareness and impersonated the president by stumbling around with his back turned to the crowd, acting lost and pointing at blank space.
"Doesn't that look terrible? ... He can't find his way off stage," Trump said of the man he calls "Crooked Joe" at a campaign rally from last week.
According to a New York Times report, Trump, 77, doesn't have the same edge he used to either. The former president incorrectly addressed a crowd in Sioux City, Iowa last week as Sioux Falls, a town in South Dakota, before being corrected by a member of his team shortly after.
The mistake was similar to one he mocked Biden, 80, for about a month earlier when Trump reportedly pretended to be Biden and mistook Iowa for Idaho. Trump has also repeatedly mispronounced "Hamas," the terrorist group behind recent attacks in Israel, and mixed up the names of former running mates.
The increased prevalence of Trump's verbal mistakes could undermine one of his biggest criticisms of Biden: that he is too old to be the president of the U.S.
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Why It Matters: Although Trump and Biden are just three years apart, recent polls indicate that approximately two out of three voters believe Biden is too old to serve another term in the White House, while only half of voters think age is a problem for Trump. Based on recent verbal slips, that gap could begin to close.
“The age issue is one that if Trump gets tarred with the same brush as Biden, it really hurts him," said Berwood Yost, director of the closely-watched Franklin & Marshall poll of registered voters.
Trump is already taking a hit in recent polls from Robert F. Kennedy's switch to Independent. Kennedy's party change cost Trump about 10% of votes, while Biden only lost about 5%.
Trump is still well ahead in the Republican primary race. According to the latest Morning Consult poll, which Benzinga tracks weekly, Trump would capture 61% of the vote if the elections were held today. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the next closest candidate with just 13% of the vote.
DeSantis could be using Trump's verbal slips to try to close that gap. The Florida governor recently said that Trump has "lost the zip on his fastball."
“This is a different Donald Trump than 2015 and ’16 ... Now, it’s just a different guy. And it's sad to see," DeSantis said.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Flickr.
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