US Election 2024: Donald Trump fires back at Joe Biden’s surprise speech on re-election push

Donald Trump has made bold and suggestive comments about Joe Biden’s health after the US President made a major campaign admission.

US President Joe Biden has revealed an interesting titbit ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in a year that is shaping up to be one most challenging of his political life.

While your average 81-year-old can be found winding down in retirement, Mr Biden has a much more stressful agenda planned — taking Donald Trump head-on for a second time.

The veteran Democrat has spent months fending off accusations he is unfit to run for a second term, with dozens of videos of him fumbling basic sentences adding fuel to Mr Trump’s fire.

But Mr Biden believes backing down in the face of another Trump presidency is too great of a risk.

Speaking at a 2024 election campaign fundraiser on Tuesday, the US President admitted he was unsure if he would be seeking re-election next year were businessman Mr Trump not also trying for a second term.

“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But we cannot let him win,” President Biden told the Massachusetts event on Tuesday.

Mr Biden also praised the “powerful voice” of former Republican Liz Cheney who recently hit out against Mr Trump, warning that the United States would be “sleepwalking into dictatorship” if the twice-impeached former president makes a comeback.

He also mentioned a recent piece from The Atlantic outlining what it said were the threats posed by a second Trump term. The publication is now one of three major US media outlets to issue similar warnings in recent days along with the Washington Post and New York Times.

While your average 81-year-old can be found winding down in retirement, Mr Biden has a much more stressful agenda planned — taking Donald Trump head-on for a second time.

But Mr Biden believes backing down in the face of another Trump Presidency is too great of a risk.

Mr Biden cited Mr Trump’s increasingly extreme language on the campaign trail, including calling his opponents “vermin”. Biden said that echoed the language used in Germany in the 1930s.

“Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us what he’s going to do,” Mr Biden said. “He’s making no bones about it.” On his return to Washington, reporters asked the president again if he’d be running without Trump as his opponent.

“He is running and I have to run,” Mr Biden said, dodging a question over whether he would drop out of the race if Mr Trump’s campaign folded.

But Mr Trump is narrowly ahead in opinion polls despite facing a number of criminal trials including one for election subversion.

Mr Biden’s age is a particular concern with voters and there have been calls from some Democrats for him to step aside for a new candidate.

“Joe Biden is the real dictator,” Mr Trump responded in a post on his Truth Social network on Tuesday.

The former commander-in-chief has stuck to his guns on alleged 2020 election rigging, a stance that has seen him labelled a tyrant by his most fierce detractors.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity hosted the GOP frontrunner at a town hall Tuesday night in Iowa, which saw Mr Trump make equally bold comments directed at the current president.

The hour-long show featured audience members who chanted “USA” as Mr Trump walked on stage, boo’s at mention of Hillary Clinton and laughter at the former president’s repeated jabs at Mr Biden.

The former commander-in-chief has stuck to his guns on alleged 2020 election rigging, a stance that has seen him labelled a tyrant by his most fierce detractors.

Support for Donald Trump is still thriving in key US demographics.

“Well, I think somebody gave him a talking point. They thought that would sound good,” he said to a roaring crowd, referencing Mr Biden’s recent comments.

“You know, I just found out that Democrats are funding Nikki Haley’s campaign. I hear that Democrats are contributing to Ron DeSanctus’, or Ron DeSanctimonious, to Ron DeSanctus’ campaign. And then you hear the talking points. That’s the only thing they’re good at, cheating on elections and great talking points.”

The 2024 presidential candidate discussed topics including EVs, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, oil and gas production and prices, nuclear war and more.

“The only global warming we should be thinking about and worrying about, cause it could happen tomorrow, is nuclear global warming, not global warming,” he said.

Mr Trump also addressed Mr Hannity’s questions on “dictatorship” to which he responded he’d only act as a “dictator” on his first day back in office to “drill, drill, drill” and close the borders.

Trump predicted Biden won’t be the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election and touched on his cognitive decline.

“I personally don’t think he makes it, okay?”

Originally published as US Election 2024: Donald Trump fires back at Joe Biden’s surprise speech on re-election push