Joe Biden ‘in conspiracy to overthrow US’: Donald Trump

Trump, five points ahead of Biden in latest polls, accuses Democrats of encouraging migrant arrivals ‘to sign up to vote in the next election’.

Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally at the Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden of a “conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America” as he moved closer to confirming a rematch for the White House by winning another three state primary contests.

The former president is trying to turn the tables on Mr Biden’s claim that Mr Trump is a danger to democracy by painting an existential threat to America from last year’s record arrivals of migrants at the southern US border with Mexico.

Mr Trump, who faces 91 charges in four criminal cases including two related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, had 48 per cent support from American voters, five points ahead of Biden, in the latest New York Times/ Siena College poll at the weekend.

Before the Super Tuesday votes tomorrow on Wednesday (AEDT) in 15 Republican primary states, Mr Trump told rallies in Virginia and North Carolina that Mr Biden was stoking “migrant crime” by allowing asylum-seekers to stay in the US after abolishing his “remain in Mexico” scheme for those applying to settle.

“Biden’s conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America,” Trump told a crowd in Richmond, Virginia. “He talks about democracy. He is a danger to democracy.”

Mr Trump accused Democrats of encouraging migrant arrivals and “trying to sign them up to get them to vote in the next election”. It is against US law for non-citizens to register or vote in a federal election. Democrats reject the claims.

In his speech in Greensboro, North Carolina, Mr Trump repeated his allegation that Mr Biden was bringing in “foreign armies” of young men, especially from China.

“A central question in this election is whether the foreign armies Joe Biden has smuggled across our border will be allowed to stay, or whether they’ll be told to get the hell out of here and go back home. We’ll take them back home,” Mr Trump said. He has pledged to round up and deport any migrants in the US illegally, a number estimated to be at least 11 million people.

Ammar Moussa, a Biden campaign spokesman, referred to Mr Trump’s intervention last month to push Republicans in congress to reject an immigration bill to tackle border problems.

“Once again Trump is projecting in an attempt to distract the American people from the fact he killed the fairest and toughest border security bill in decades because he believed it would help his campaign. Sad,” Moussa said.

In Richmond, Mr Trump confused Mr Biden for Barack Obama for the third time in six months in another sign that at 77 he is not immune from the kind of muddles that 81-year-old Mr Biden keeps making. While attempting to criticise Mr Biden for not having the respect of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump said: “Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word.”

Mr Trump’s last rival in the contest for the Republican party’s presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, refused to confirm that she would endorse him if he emerged as the winner. Ms Haley has yet to win a state but picked up the endorsements of two senators in the states of Alaska and Maine before tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) showdown across five time zones. She also had hopes of winning the primary in the District of Columbia, home to the capital, Washington.

Asked by NBC yesterday (Sunday) whether she would honour a commitment she made in order to qualify for the Republican debates to support the eventual party nominee, she said: “No. I think I’ll make what decision I want to make.”

Mr Trump swept three Republican caucuses on Saturday night in Idaho, Michigan and Missouri, winning all 122 delegates.

The New York Times/Siena College poll had some damning indicators for Biden, who is counting on earning credit for steadying the economy. His stewardship of it was regarded as excellent by 7 per cent of voters, good by 19 per cent, “only fair” by 23 per cent and poor by 51 per cent.

The Times