US President Donald Trump has called for himself and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to submit to drug tests ahead of their first electoral debate next month.
Biden, 77, and Trump, 74, will have three debates before the November 3 election. The three presidential debates will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29; in Miami, Florida, on October 15; and Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22.
Trump told the Washington Examiner he had noticed a sudden improvement in Biden’s performance in the Democratic TV debates.
The president offered no evidence his rival might be on drugs other than to say: “I am pretty good at this stuff”.
Back in 2016, Trump suggested his then-Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, had been “getting pumped up” before their debates and challenged her to take a drug test ahead of their final live TV encounter. The Clinton camp brushed aside his challenge.
On Wednesday, the president – who is set to deliver his keynote address to the ongoing Republican party convention on Thursday – made a similar claim, arguing that Biden’s debating ability had improved markedly in the final debate.
Trump said the former US vice-president “wasn’t even coherent” during some of the 11 live TV debates he competed in earlier but by the time of the last debate on March 15, he performed better against Senator Bernie Sanders.
Speaking to the Washington Examiner on Thursday August 27, Trump 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.
Speaking about the coming debates, 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.
