Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump
Credit: Reuters Photo
Washington: Donald Trump on Friday blasted Joe Biden and his State of the Union address, saying that the US President was "angry and mentally disturbed" and suffers from a terminal case of "Trump derangement syndrome".
Trump, 77, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, was reacting to Biden's final State of the Union address, in which the 81-year-old Democrat slammed the former president on several issues, ranging from his recent comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin, immigration, January 6 insurrection, abortion, and gun control.
Biden, who is seeking another term as the president, refrained from naming Trump but referred to him indirectly as his "predecessor" as many as 13 times during his speech on Thursday.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump said that Biden "suffers from a terminal case of Trump derangement syndrome, which is only curable through impeachment."
Reacting to Biden’s address, Trump said, "He was angry, mentally disturbed, and misrepresenting a lot of the facts concerning almost every subject he discussed."
"But he got through it. He is still breathing, and they didn’t have to carry him out in a straightjacket," Trump said. "Other than that, I think he did a terrible job," the report quoted him as saying.
During his address, which lasted for over an hour, Biden said that "his predecessor" had failed a president's most basic duty- the duty to care. He slammed Trump for bowing down to Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
"Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want". A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable," Biden said.
Trump recently said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defence in a stunning admission he would not abide by the collective defence clause at the heart of the alliance if reelected.
Biden said history is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6, referring to the mob attack on the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC, by supporters of then-US president Trump, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
"January 6 and the lies about the 2020 election and the plots to steal the election posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. But they failed. America stood strong, and democracy prevailed,” Biden said.
Asserting that the threat to democracy remains, Biden said, "My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6. I will not do that. This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies. I will do that.”
Responding to why Biden repeatedly brought him up, Trump said, "Because I’m beating him by 14 points in the polls."
Biden and his Republican predecessor Trump swept in their presidential nomination primaries held in 15 states across the country on Tuesday, ensuring a rematch between them in the November 5, 2024, presidential elections.
"He was very angry, and that’s also a symptom of a certain type of problem — senility," Trump said. "He shouldn’t be at this age because he’s a young man relative to others his age who are very successful," he added.
Biden is the oldest American president, and his third State of the Union address came amidst questions about his age and fitness for office.
Trump also took to his social media platform Truth Social after Biden's State of the Union address and blasted him as "a threat to democracy."
"HE WEAPONISED GOVERNMENT AGAINST HIS OPPONENT – DIDN’T TALK ABOUT THAT, NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!" Trump posted.