Trump Claims He Was Being ‘Sarcastic’ When Mixing Up Biden, Obama

A series of apparent verbal gaffes from the former US leader is reinforcing concerns that both likely major party candidates for the presidency are too old to serve.

Former President Donald Trump defended his mix-up of former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden on Monday, claiming the verbal flub was a “sarcastic” attempt to suggest Obama’s alleged influence on the Biden administration.

“I know both names very well, never mix them up, and know that they are destroying our Country,” wrote Trump in a post on his Truth Social online platform.

“Whenever I sarcastically insert the name Obama for Biden as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our Country, Ron DeSanctimonious and his failing campaign apparatus, together with the Democrat’s Radical Left ‘Disinformation Machine,’ go wild saying that ‘Trump doesn’t know the name of our President, (CROOKED!) Joe Biden. He must be cognitively impaired.’”

The post was a response to attacks from the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which has questioned the former president’s mental acuity in recent days.

“Trump has been having serious trouble with names lately,” read a post from the DeSantis War Room account on the X platform earlier this month. “On a number of occasions, he’s confused Obama and Biden. Here’s a really concerning moment.”

Trump has been having serious trouble with names lately.

On a number of occasions, he’s confused Obama and Biden. Here’s a really concerning moment:pic.twitter.com/5v3gJqPwUH

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 6, 2023

Trump’s dislike for Obama is well documented, with some news outlets reporting the real estate magnate first decided to enter politics after being mocked by Obama during a comedy routine at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Trump has been echoing a conservative conspiracy theory in recent weeks that former President Obama is secretly in control of the Biden White House. “It’s never been worse than it is now under crooked Joe Biden and, frankly, his boss, Barack Hussein Obama,” said Trump at a campaign event in New Hampshire last month.

But Trump’s advanced age – at 77, he’s just four years younger than President Biden – may lend credence to suggestions the former president is suffering mental decline.

Polling has consistently suggested the majority of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve another term as president, but voters may increasingly share the same perception of Trump. A survey earlier this month showed 39% of voters in six battleground states believe Trump is now too old to be commander-in-chief.

Trump has made a series of apparent verbal gaffes recently, once referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the “leader of Turkiye” (Turkiye is led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan). Trump has also mistakenly claimed that Hungary shares a border with Russia and apparently confused DPRK President Kim Jong Un with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump has consistently rejected doubts over his cognitive abilities, once claiming in 2018 he is “a very stable genius.” He continues to lead all other candidates for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination by wide margins despite facing 91 felony charges across four separate criminal cases.