Donald Trump has implied that Joe Biden is using performance enhancing drugs and has challenged him to take a drugs test before their first head-to-head presidential debate next month.
The accusation and challenge comes after Trump saw a large improvement in Biden's performance in the Democratic Party TV debates. While Trump provided no evidence what-so-ever regarding the drugs suspicion, he did say:
"I'm pretty good at this stuff."
It is not the first time that Trump has made such accusations. Back in 2016 he accused presidential rival Hillary Clinton of 'getting pumped up' before debates and suggested that this may have been the result of drug use. As is the case today, he challenged Clinton to take a drugs test. A significant part of the Trump campaign in 2016 was to question Clinton's health and wellbeing before the vote, accusations that caught fire after Clinton was filmed collapsing outside her car shortly before the November 2016 election.
Trump said his belief in Biden's drug use comes from the fact that in early nominee debates he 'wasn't even coherent' but that by the time of the final debates he was in much better shape. The president said:
"I don't know how he [Mr Biden] could have been so incompetent in his debate performances and then all of a sudden be OK against Bernie. It wasn't that he was Winston Churchill because he wasn't, but it was a normal, boring debate. You know, nothing amazing happened. And we are going to call for a drug test because there's no way - you can't do that."
Commenting further on the upcoming presidential debate, Trump said:
"Well, it is a prizefight. It's no different from the gladiators, except we have to use our brain and our mouth. And our body to stand. I want all standing - they want to sit down."
The three televised presidential debates will take place in Cleveland, Miami and Nashville on the 29th of September, the 15th of October and the 22nd of October. Trump, who is behind on nationwide polls but closer to Biden in key swing states will be seeking to make up that extra ground and secure his second term as president. He is however facing huge challenges, the mishandling of the pandemic by the US government and the economic fallout, not to mention the continuing protests and riots across the country mean that it will be difficult to defend his time in office, despite a promising economic performance prior to the pandemic hitting.
The debates will be between the two combined oldest candidates ever to duke it our for office. Donald Trump is 74 and Joe Biden is 77.
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