On Tuesday, radio host Hugh Hewitt conducted an interview with President Trump, and asked him about prospective debates with former Vice President Joe Biden. “You know the way it is, the fake news,” Trump said. “If he stands up, and if he is able to breathe, and if he’s able to walk off the platform, they’ll say it was one of the greatest debate performances in history.”
Hewitt prompted Trump by asserting, “The expectations of the vice president are being lowered by the hour. I think if he just stands up for an hour, that will lead the media to declare him a winner. I appreciate that you nominated me to be a moderator. I don’t think the debate commission will give you anyone remotely close to being as tough on Biden as they are on you. Do you think they’re lowering expectations for Joe Biden for the debates?”
Trump answered, “Well, I’m not lowering expectations. Everyone else is. I’m not. I don’t do that. Look, whoever shows up, I watched him with Bernie Sanders, and he did okay. I wouldn’t say he was Winston Churchill.”
“Yes, he did,” the host replied.
“But he got through,” Trump continued. “But you know the way it is, the fake news. If he stands up, and if he is able to breathe, and if he’s able to walk off the platform, they’ll say it was one of the greatest debate performances in history. These, the fake news is corrupt, and it’s a disgrace. And it’s now rated lower than Congress. At least in my mind, it’s rated lower than anything. But I’ve seen things from the fake news that someday I’ll tell you some things you wouldn’t even believe. These are corrupt people. So if he goes and debates; if he said, ‘Yes, I had a wonderful breakfast, thank you for asking the question,’ they’ll give him, they’ll say it was one of the greatest answers in history.”
“So you know, I know what I’m up against, and I had a smaller dose of it with Hillary,” Trump said. “But Hillary was smart. Joe was never smart. Joe wasn’t smart in prime time. I’ve had a certain highly-respected senator years ago, I said, who I got along with very well, which people would be shocked at, I said, ‘Who’s the smartest person in the Senate?’ He gave me a name. Then [I] said, ‘Who’s the dumbest?’ and he said, ‘Joe.’ And I said, ‘Who’s Joe?’ ‘Joe.’ I said, ‘Who is he? Who is he?’ He said, ‘Joe. You don’t know Joe?’ And we go along, and I said, ‘You’re talking about Biden?’ ‘Yeah, I’m talking about Joe Biden.’ I said, ‘Why, he’s the dumbest in the Senate?’ ‘He is by far. He’s a glad hand.’”
“He called him a glad hand, and he was a friend,” Trump continued. “He was a friend of the guy. But he said Joe Biden’s the dumbest in the Senate.”