President Joe Biden’s apparent joke about squashing rival Donald Trump like a bug is drawing scrutiny given tense political times amid threats.
During a taping of ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday, Biden slammed his hand on the table when comedian and co-host Whoppi Goldberg compared rival Donald Trump to a “bug.”
“He just didn’t do it, he was like a bug. He just kept going there, who’s like a bug right there? Bzzz,” the comedian said, mimicking an insect stalking her forehead, during a discussion about Biden’s decision not to seek reelection.
Biden punctuated his routine by looking at the table in front of him and clapping his hand, prompting hosts and crowd members to laugh at the gesture.
For some it was no laughing matter during a tense week in which a man was charged in the second assassination attempt against Trump.
“In the wake of two assassination attempts and reports that Iran is trying to kill Donald Trump, The View’s Whoopi Goldberg compares Trump to a bug. Joe Biden responds by pretending to kill a bug on a table,” wrote Steve Guest, a former aide to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who posted the video online on X.
President Joe Biden appeared on ABC’s “The View” and slammed his hand on the table as co-host Whoopie Goldberg compared Donald Trump to a bug.
The Trump campaign also complained about a televised comment by Biden’s Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who criticized Trump for telling a “lie” and said, “Let’s take him down for good.”
Earlier in the broadcast, Biden was questioned about many of Trump’s own incendiary comments, including the reference to “Second Amendment people” and the call for a televised military tribunal for Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Trump critic.
“There’s not a lot of redeeming social value in that. He really doesn’t believe in democracy and the barriers that our system has put in place for the abuse of power,” Biden said of Trump, speaking during a week in which he was in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.
Whoopi Goldberg described Donald Trump as a “bug”
Goldberg compared Trump to an insect, a characterization Biden did not question.
Biden claimed he could have beaten Trump himself, brushing aside polls that showed him in serious trouble in key states.
“I never quite believed the claims that there was somehow an overwhelming reluctance to me competing again. I didn’t feel that way,” he said. “We were always within striking distance of beating that guy.”
Trump himself faced accusations after a speech last November in which he referred to immigrants as “vermin.”
“We promise you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and radical left thugs who live like vermin within the confines of our country,” Trump said.
Goldberg also spoke of her loyalty to Biden, even at a time when Democrats were lining up to oust him. “You were my ally,” she said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done in my life.”
Trump himself lashed out at the FBI during a speech on Wednesday, a day after he was told of an assassination threat from Iran. He said Biden should tell Iran’s leaders he will detonate an atomic bomb.
