What Biden *really* says about Trump behind closed doors
By JONATHAN LEMIRE, LAUREN EGAN, MYAH WARD and BEN JOHANSEN 02/01/2024 05:37 PM EST
President JOE BIDEN has a reputation for salty language behind closed doors. But it nearly slipped out in public during his speech at Valley Forge last month to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Animated and angry, he derided DONALD TRUMP and his followers for drawing glee from political violence.
“At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull,” Biden said.
“And he thinks that’s funny,” the president continued. “He laughed about it. What a sick …”
Biden let his voice trail off as the crowd cheered and chuckled.
In private, he doesn’t stop short.
The president has described Trump to longtime friends and close aides as a “sick ****” who delights in others’ misfortunes, according to three people who have heard the president use the profane description. According to one of the people who has spoken with the president, Biden recently said of Trump: “What a ******* asshole the guy is.”
The White House declined to comment.
The epithets may cut against the image Biden often projects as someone eager to take down the level of incivility and acrimony in politics. But they also illustrate a core anger he has developed toward the man he ousted from office and may very well face again.
Biden has long been troubled by what he has perceived as Trump’s encouragement of political violence, which the incumbent believes is a direct threat to the nation’s democracy and deeply un-American, according to the three people familiar with his private conversations, who were all granted anonymity to describe them. His disgust toward Trump has never been a secret but has only grown in recent months as the former president tightens his grip on the GOP nomination.
The Trump campaign chided Biden for his remarks.
“It’s a shame that Crooked Joe Biden disrespects the presidency both publicly and privately,” said CHRIS LACIVITA, a senior Trump campaign adviser. “But then again, it’s no surprise he disrespects the 45th president the same way he disrespects the American people with his failed policies.”
Biden believes Trump has grown only more loathsome with time. The ex-president’s jokes about the attack on PAUL PELOSI, the 83-year-old husband of former House Speaker NANCY PELOSI, particularly gall Biden.
The White House declined to comment.
The epithets may cut against the image Biden often projects as someone eager to take down the level of incivility and acrimony in politics. But they also illustrate a core anger he has developed toward the man he ousted from office and may very well face again.
Biden has long been troubled by what he has perceived as Trump’s encouragement of political violence, which the incumbent believes is a direct threat to the nation’s democracy and deeply un-American, according to the three people familiar with his private conversations, who were all granted anonymity to describe them. His disgust toward Trump has never been a secret but has only grown in recent months as the former president tightens his grip on the GOP nomination.
The Trump campaign chided Biden for his remarks.
“It’s a shame that Crooked Joe Biden disrespects the presidency both publicly and privately,” said CHRIS LACIVITA, a senior Trump campaign adviser. “But then again, it’s no surprise he disrespects the 45th president the same way he disrespects the American people with his failed policies.”
Biden believes Trump has grown only more loathsome with time. The ex-president’s jokes about the attack on PAUL PELOSI, the 83-year-old husband of former House Speaker NANCY PELOSI, particularly gall Biden.
A hammer-wielding man who was radicalized by right-wing conspiracy theories broke into the Pelosi family’s San Francisco home in October 2022 looking for the former speaker. He attacked her husband, fracturing his skull. In the aftermath of the assault, a series of salacious rumors about the encounter took hold on the hard-right, which Trump used as laugh lines for his rallies.
“We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco — how’s her husband doing, anybody know?” Trump said to a raucous crowd of California Republicans at a state party convention in September. “And she’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house — which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”
Paul Pelosi’s attacker was convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault. That incident is not the only one which has prompted Biden to privately spit expletives about the likely Republican nominee.
Biden’s fury has also been triggered, according to the people who spoke to him, by accounts of Trump cheering on the Jan. 6 rioters from the comfort of his private dining room off the Oval Office. In addition, Trump’s declaration that there were fine people on “both sides” of the racist clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as his warm words toward VLADIMIR PUTIN have been known to set off the president.
Biden grew particularly incensed by reports of Trump refusing to visit a military cemetery in the rain and by stories that he has mocked the sacrifices of fallen American soldiers. Biden believes his son BEAU died of brain cancer that developed after being exposed to burn pits while serving in Iraq. And, as with the case of the Valley Forge speech, his fury on this front has spilled out into public view, including last weekend in South Carolina.
“[Trump] referred to those heroes, and I quote, as ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ He actually said that. How dare he say that. How dare he talk about my son and all like that,” Biden said. “Look, I call them patriots and heroes. The only loser I see is Donald Trump.”
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