Biden and Trump spar on immigration and age

Joe Biden launched a TV ad addressing his age as he and Donald Trump targeted the battleground state of Georgia.

Jill Biden speaks at a campaign event for her husband Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia, ahead of the primary. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Joe Biden and ­ Donald Trump traded barbs on the key topics of age and immigration at the weekend, as they targeted the battleground state of Georgia.

The US President, hoping to ride the momentum from a feisty State of the Union speech on Thursday, went to state capital Atlanta to mobilise black and Hispanic voters.

He again attacked his Republican predecessor, who has vowed to be a “dictator” for one day.

“When he says he wants to be a dictator, I believe him,” Mr Biden told a rally on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), highlighting US economic strength while promising action to cut costs in areas such as housing, health and education.

He also told broadcaster MSNBC that he regretted using the term “an illegal” when referring in February to the killer of a nursing student in Georgia.

“I shouldn’t have used ­‘illegal”, it’s ‘undocumented”,” said Mr Biden, who has been criticised by progressives and members of his own party for using terminology more commonly employed by Republicans.

Mr Trump, who is pledging a crackdown on illegal immigration as a key plank of his campaign, talked at length during his Saturday rally about the slain student. “Laken Riley would be alive today if Joe Biden had not wilfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the US,” he told supporters in Georgia’s ­Republican-leaning northwestern corner.

He slammed Mr Biden for backtracking on his use of the word “illegal” to describe the Venezuelan suspect in the crime, saying “Biden should be apologising for apologising to this killer,” he said.

Mr Trump also pretended to be a stuttering Mr Biden, mocking his 81-year-old opponent.

Mr Biden’s campaign launched a TV ad in which the President directly addresses his advanced age, a major concern among voters.

“Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret. But here is the deal. I understand how to get things done for the American people,” he says in the ad.

Mr Trump’s team quickly ­responded with a video message that starts with Mr Biden’s statement, followed by clips of the President stumbling, falling or looking confused.

Georgia was so closely divided in the 2020 election – carried by Mr Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes – that Mr Trump ­infamously phoned a top state official to ask him to “find” a few thousand extra votes.

Georgia was long reliably ­Republican but has become more competitive.

AFP