Former President Donald Trump once again conflated President Joe Biden with former President Barack Obama during a Virginia rally Saturday evening.
“Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word. You heard that. Nuclear. He’s starting to talk nuclear weapons today,” Trump stated during his rally.
Donald Trump again conflates Biden and Obama, claims he mixes Haley and Pelosi up on purpose https://t.co/W8FXzK0pYQ pic.twitter.com/TXQogftgp4
— New York Post (@nypost) March 3, 2024
Rally attendees quickly fell silent as the 77-year-old mentioned his predecessor. Trump’s remark referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin ominously suggesting in his recent state of the nation speech that an escalation in war-torn Ukraine “raises the real threat of a nuclear conflict.”
Trump has frequently mixed up Biden and Obama on the campaign trail but claims it’s intentional. Last year, he conflated the two-term ticket mates on at least seven occasions, according to Forbes.
“Whenever I sarcastically insert the name Obama for Biden as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our Country,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last year.
Allies of Biden have seized on instances in which Trump mixes up the two, seeking to imply the 45th president is suffering from some sort of cognitive deficiency as the incumbent fends off age-related concerns of his own.
“Trump once again forgets who is currently president, says he is running against ‘Obama,'” a Biden-Harris campaign account on social media wrote.
Later in his wide-ranging speech, Trump offered an explanation for why he has mixed up his last-standing major Republican foe Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Trump has also recently confused Obama with Hillary Clinton, claiming last year that he defeated the former in the 2016 election. Trump has crowed repeatedly about how he “aced” the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which he took during his White House days.
Both Biden and Trump, who appear to be careening toward a rematch of their 2020 showdown, have been haunted by questions about their age.
A staggering 86% of US adults felt that the 81-year-old Biden is too old for another term in an ABC News/Ipsos poll released last month concluded. A smaller 62% felt that Trump is too old as well.
Biden is the oldest sitting US president and would be 86 by the end of a second hypothetical term. Should Trump win in November and serve out a full term, he will surpass Biden by several months as the oldest president.
Trump, who has thumped opponents in every GOP contest he’s vied in, is the overwhelming favorite and has already begun shifting into general election mode.
