Apollonian
Guest Columnist
Donald Trump demands a DRUG TEST before first election debate with Joe Biden claiming Democratic rival was 'not coherent' in party's primary debates until final showdown
Link: http://www.domigood.com/2020/08/donald-trump-demands-drug-test-before.html
Donald Trump proposed Wednesday that he and Joe Biden take drug tests before the presidential debate as he insinuated the Democratic nominee boosted his final primary debate by taking drugs – while the president insisted he only takes 'an aspirin a day.'
'Nobody thought that he was even going to win,' Trump said of the final debate of the primary race in March, which was between Biden and remaining contender Senator Bernie Sanders.
'Because his debate performances were so bad,' Trump continued in an interview with the Washington Examiner. 'Frankly, his best performance was against Bernie.'
'We're going to call for a drug test, by the way, because his best performance was against Bernie,' the president demanded. 'It wasn't that he was Winston Churchill because he wasn't, but it was a normal, boring debate. You know, nothing amazing happened. And we are going to call for a drug test because there's no way — you can't do that.'
Biden took part in 11 debates during the primary season – plans for the 12th debate were never finalized as coronavirus ravaged the nation.
President Donald Trump demanded that he and Joe Biden be administered drug tests before the presidential debates
Trump insinuated the Biden used drugs to enhance his performance at the final Democratic primary debate against Bernie Sanders in March, which Trump claims was his best debate by far
'Nobody thought that he was even going to win,' Trump said of the final debate. 'We're going to call for a drug test, by the way, because his best performance was against Bernie'
While most of the majority of the debate stages were busy with a large field of candidates and in front of a large crowd, the final one on March 15 was just Biden and Sanders and there was no crowd or excessive press permitted to attend.
The first general election debate between the former vice president and Trump is scheduled to be held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29.
It appears Trump is aware it's unlikely the drug test will become a reality.
'I think it's appropriate,' Trump said. 'I don't know that they'll let me do it, but I think that they should do it.'
Trump claims there is a big difference with Biden's performance between the last debate and those prior.
'I don't know how he could have been so incompetent in his debate performances and then all of a sudden be OK against Bernie,' the president said in the Oval Office interview.
'My point is, if you go back and watch some of those numerous debates, he was so bad. He wasn't even coherent. And against Bernie, he was,' he continued. 'And we're calling for a drug test.'
'Go back and watch his performances in some of those debates,' Trump continued in his rant. 'He didn't know where he was. And all of a sudden, he was not good, he was normal, and I don't understand how. I don't know if there is or not, but somebody said to me, 'He must be on drugs.' I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm asking for a drug test. Both candidates. Me, too. I take an aspirin a day.'
The president's claims that Biden artificially enhanced his performance through use of drugs are entirely based on observation and cannot be substantiated through any proof.
'All I can tell you is that I'm pretty good at this stuff,' Trump insisted. 'I look. I watched him in the debates with all of the different people. He was close to incompetent, if not incompetent, and against Bernie, he was normal.'
'How does that happen?' he questioned.
Joe Biden and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris (right) accepted on Thursday the Democratic nominee to appear on the ticket to take on Trump in November
This is not the first time Trump has accused his competitors of being on drugs. He claimed in October 2016, after the second presidential debate, that Hillary Clinton did better because she had taken drugs.
'I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate. We should take a drug test prior because I don't know what's going on with her,' Trump said at the time – and no drug tests were administered during those debates.
Other than accusations of drug use, Trump is also not happy with the date of the first debate.
He claims the first presidential debate should be moved to earlier in September in light of mass mail-in voting, claiming that millions of Americans will have cast their ballots before getting to see him spar with Biden.
North Carolina will begin casting mail-in ballots on September 4, nearly three-and-a-half weeks before the first debate of this cycle.