Trump called Biden ‘mental re***d’ during 2020 campaign outburst

Then-president believed Mr Biden would be replaced with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama before election

US President Donald Trump (L) and Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden squaring off at first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump called Joe Biden “a mental retard” in early 2020 as he struggled against the former vice president in early election polls, a new book claims.

Mr Trump vented his anger at his poor numbers against Mr Biden by interrupting “a policy meeting in the Oval Office to ask, ‘How am I losing in the polls to a mental retard?’” according to Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s new book.

Mr Trump also told aides to hold off on spending against Mr Biden as he was convinced the Democratic Party planned to switch him out for Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, according to Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.

The book, according toVanity Fair, claims that the source of Mr Trump’s belief for the wild theory, was former Clinton White House insider, Dick Morris.

“Dick Morris told Trump that Biden was too old and too prone to gaffes to be the nominee,” Bender writes in the forthcoming book.

And it further adds: “Others said Fox News anchor Sean Hannity expressed concern that Biden would collapse under a sustained attack from Trump.”

The one-term president also regretted his brutal attacks on Elizabeth Warren as he felt she would have been an easier general election opponent than Mr Biden.

“Now he worried that a heavy blitz of attack ads would hasten the secret plot being hatched by Democrats, and his mind raced with who they might select in Biden’s place,” writes Bender.

Mr Trump told his team about his Biden replacement theory early in 2020, insisting that top Democrats would “realise [Biden is] old, and they’re going to give it to somebody else. They’re going to give it to Hillary, or they’re going to give it to Michelle Obama.”

The book states that Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio pushed back against the theory by pointing out that Mr Biden would have the nomination wrapped up before the party’s convention, at which Mr Trump was convinced the replacement was set to take place.

Bender’s book is set to be released in August.