President Biden stumbled through an answer about spending during Thursday’s presidential debate, igniting new questions about his campaign.
Responding to a question about taxes, Mr. Biden meandered into a complaint about former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut package and his own plans for a tax increase on the wealthy.
“If they just paid 24%, 25%, either one of those numbers, we’d raise $500 million — billion dollars, I should say — in a 10-year period. We’d be able to wipe out his debt, we’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with COVID — excuse, me, dealing with everything we have to do with … Look, we finally beat Medicare.”
Mr. Trump retorted: “He’s right, he did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”
Mr. Biden began the debate with a cough, raspy voice and a speedy delivery, making his answers tough to discern at times.
The president reportedly has had a cold for several weeks that he has not been able to shake. At 81, Mr. Biden is the nation’s oldest president and his age has been a persistent concern among voters in the polls.
But it was the off-kilter answers that drew attention on social media.
During a question on immigration, Mr. Biden tried to make the point that his recent executive actions have made things better, but he again stumbled over his words, saying he was “going to continue to move for a total ban — the total initiative — relative to what we can do.”
“I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Mr. Trump said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.