One of Donald Trump’s new comedy routines at his rallies involves imitating the current commander in chief using an exaggerated caricature mocking President Joe Biden’s age.
With drooping eyelids and open mouth, Donald Trump stutters and mumbles. He squints. His arms wave. He shuffles across the stage. Laughter and applause erupt from the crowd as he feigns confusion by turning toward invisible supporters, as if unaware that his back is to them.
But his recent campaign events have also been marked by less deliberate stumbles. Mr. Trump has increased the number of unforced gaffes, sputterings and general lack of cohesion that go beyond his usual discursive nature, and which his Republican rivals see as signs of his declining performance.
In Sioux City, Iowa, on Sunday, Mr. Trump incorrectly thanked supporters in Sioux Falls, a South Dakota town about 50 miles away, and only corrected himself after being challenged on stage and informed of the error.
That scene was eerily similar to a fictional scene Mr. Trump had acted out earlier this month, impersonating Mr. Biden, confusing Iowa with Idaho and needing an aide to set him straight.
In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has also asked his supporters not to vote and claimed to have beaten President Barack Obama in an election. He praised the collective intelligence of an Iranian-backed militant group that has long been the enemy of Israel and the United States, and repeatedly mispronounced the name of the armed group that rules the Gaza Strip.
“It’s a different Donald Trump than he was in 2015 and 2016, his fastball has lost its liveliness,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters last week while campaigning in New Hampshire .
“In 2016, he was free, he was traveling the country,” added Mr. DeSantis. Now he’s a different man. And it’s sad to see. »
Undermining the Republican argument
It is not certain that Mr. Trump’s recent slip-ups are linked to his age. He has long relied on an unorthodox style of speaking that has been one of his greatest political strengths, placing him, improbably, among the most effective communicators in American politics.
But as the race for the 2024 White House heats up, Mr. Trump’s increasingly frequent verbal blunders threaten to undermine one of the Republicans’ most powerful attacks, and the very purpose of his pantomime about scene: the argument that Mr. Biden is too old to be president.
Joe Biden, grandfather of seven grandchildren, is 80 years old. Donald Trump, who has 10 grandchildren, is 77 years old.
Although only a few years separate the two men, voters do not see their vigor in the same way. According to recent polls, about two in three voters believe that Joe Biden is too old to serve another four-year term, while only half of them think the same of Donald Trump.
If this gap begins to narrow, Trump will have the most to lose.
According to an August poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 43 percent of American voters said the two men were “too old to serve another four-year term as president.” Among these voters, 61% said they intended to vote for Joe Biden, compared to 13% for Donald Trump.
PHOTO JORDAN GALE, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Republican activists during a partisan event in Ottumwa, Iowa, on January 1er last October
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, noted that the former president maintains a considerable lead in the Republican primary polls and that, for the presidential election, several recent polls have shown that Mr. Trump has a slight lead over Mr. Biden.
“President Trump still dominates, because people know he is the strongest candidate,” Cheung said. The contrast is Mr. Biden falling on stage, mumbling in his speech, not knowing where to walk and tripping on the steps of Air Force One. This will remain etched in the minds of voters. »
Several discrepancies in the space of two months
In a September 15 speech in Washington, the former president warned that the United States was on the brink of World War II, which ended in 1945, moments after saying Mr. Biden was suffering of “cognitive disorders and was not fit to lead the country”.
In the same speech, he boasted about presidential polls that put him ahead of Barack Obama, who is, in fact, not running for a third term, which would be illegal.
Mr. Trump again incorrectly referred to Mr. Obama during an anecdote about winning the 2016 presidential race.
“We did it with Obama,” Mr. Trump said. We won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won, we beat…” He paused for a moment, seeming to realize his mistake. “Hillary Clinton. »
At a rally in Florida on October 11, days after a brutal terrorist attack that killed hundreds of Israelis, Mr. Trump criticized the country for its lack of preparedness and lashed out at his prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Trump appears to have distanced himself from Mr Netanyahu, who was once a close ally, after the Israeli leader congratulated Mr Biden on his victory in the 2020 election.
In the same speech, Mr. Trump relied on an inaccurate timeline of events in the Middle East to criticize Mr. Biden’s handling of foreign affairs and, in doing so, made headlines for praising of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group.
During a speech on Saturday, Mr. Trump sounded like he was talking about hummus when he mispronounced the name Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip and has carried out one of the largest attacks against Israel for decades, on October 7.
The former president’s pronunciation caught the attention of Joe Biden’s campaign, which posted the video clip on social media, noting that Mr. Trump looked “confused.”
His Republican rivals take advantage
But even Republican rivals have sensed an opening on the age issue in the face of Mr. Trump, who has retained an unwavering grip on the party despite a political record that in years past would have forced conservatives to consider another standard bearer. Mr. Trump lost control of Congress as president, was driven from the White House, did not contribute to the “red wave” of victories in last year’s midterm elections and, this year, was the subject of 91 felony indictments in four criminal cases.
Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old former governor of South Carolina, launched her presidential bid this year by demanding that candidates aged 75 or older take mental fitness tests, a request she renewed in recent weeks.
Saturday, Mme Haley attacked Mr. Trump for his comments about Mr. Netanyahu and Hezbollah, suggesting in a speech to Jewish donors in Las Vegas that the former president lacked the qualifications to return to the White House.
“Let me remind you,” she added with a small smile. With all due respect, I’m not confused. »
This article was originally published in the New York Times.