Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden imitated a stuttering child during Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate which drew a wide range of responses online.
“My wife and I have call list of somewhere between 20 and 100 people that we call at least every month to tell them, ‘I’m here,'” Biden said. “I give them my private phone number, they keep in touch with me.”
Biden then imitated a “little kid” with a stutter that he says he talks to on the phone.
“I have scores of these young women and men who I keep in contact with,” Biden continued. “And the reason I’d give everyone here a gift is because they want to do something like I do at making their lives better because there’s a lot people who are hurting very, very, very badly.”
WATCH:
What is going on with Joe Biden during the final question of the night?#DemDebate pic.twitter.com/pItd9T1edT
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 20, 2019
Here are some of the responses that Biden’s comments garnered online:
Comedian Norm Macdonald tweeted: “Did Biden just make fun of a stuttering kid? Or did he just stutter himself?”
Did Biden just make fun of a stuttering kid? Or did he just stutter himself?
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) December 20, 2019
The Root writer Michael Harriot tweeted: “Did Joe Biden just mock someone’s stutter? This old man is SO f***king stupid.”
Entertainer Natasha Rothwell tweeted: “Did Biden just imitate a differently abled person asking for help? Unrelated, is Trump Biden’s tether?”
Did Biden just imitate a differently abled person asking for help? Unrelated, is Trump Biden’s tether?
— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) December 20, 2019
Others were quick to point out a recently published article from The Atlantic about Biden’s own supposed stuttering problem when he was a kid.
The interview came after months of embarrassing moments for Biden on the campaign trail where he makes gaffes on a daily basis and makes numerous other mental errors on such a regular basis that many have questioned his fitness for office.
However, in an interview with CNN that came after his interview with The Atlantic, Biden said that his stutter from childhood had nothing to do with his current problems.
“Look, I think it’s appropriate for people to look at all of us and decide are we in the physical shape, are we in the mental shape, are we based on your age,” Biden said. “What a – it’s all appropriate. But all I can say is just watch me.”
“But, there – listen, people are concerned about whether you have lost a step, right, because you know what happened in Detroit,” CNN’s Don Lemon responded. “I was one of the moderators in Detroit, and you stuttered onstage. There’s an Atlantic article about that, you overcoming that as a child. But have you overcome stuttering?”
“Yes, I’ve overcome it,” Biden responded.
“Is that part of – is that part of the issue?” Lemon pressed.
“No, I don’t think so at all,” Biden responded. “One of the things that is part of the issue is when you get frontally attacked by people who have just got finished saying nice things about you earlier, and it’s a – you got to be careful. You got to be careful how you respond onstage. And they’re not debates, as you know. I mean this is a joke. They’re not debates. These are one-minute assertions.”
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