President Trump on Thursday said Joe Biden implying that a black journalist is a “junkie” was a “great insult to the black community.”
Biden chastised CBS correspondent Errol Barnett this week after he asked if the former vice president had taken a cognitive test.
In a bizarre answer, Biden said:
“No, I haven’t taken a test. Why the hell would I take a test? Come on, man,” Biden said. “That’s like saying to you, before you got on this program if you had taken a test were you taking cocaine or not. What do you think, huh? Are you a junkie?”
“Why the hell would I take a test?”@JoeBiden scoffs at idea of taking a cognitive test.
Suggests @realDonaldTrump “can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion.”
Full interview at @NABJ @NAHJ virtual convention Thursday 8am ET.@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/rGNJpjfbF6
— errol barnett • cbs (@errolbarnett) August 5, 2020
It’s not the first time Biden lost his cool when asked about his mental acuity. Last month, he pushed back on the notion that he is losing his faculties, telling reporters he is “constantly tested” for evidence of cognitive decline.
“Some have speculated that you are subject to some degree of cognitive decline,” Fox News’ Doug McKelway said. “I’m 65, I don’t have word recollection that I used to have, I forgot my train of thought from time to time. You got 12 years on me, sir. Have you been tested for some degree of cognitive decline?”
“I’ve been tested and I’m constantly tested,” Biden said. “Look, all you got to do is watch me and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against.”
A recent Zogby International poll of 1,007 “likely voters” found that 55% said they think the former vice president “is in the early stages of dementia.”
“Overall, subgroups who normally approve of Trump’s job as president were the most likely to believe Biden could be suffering from dementia,” the poll found. “Thus, majorities of Republicans (77% more likely/23% less likely) and Independents (56% more likely/44% less likely) thought Joe Biden had early-onset dementia; while nearly a third of Democrats (32% more likely/68% less likely) thought this was the case.”
