![\"\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joe_bodin-300x249.jpg\")
International Desk: President Donald Trump assailed likely opponent Joe Biden as \u201cnot competent\u201d to lead the United States, speaking as polls over the weekend showed deepening voter disenchantment with his own handling of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s shot, he\u2019s mentally shot,\u201d Trump said about Biden in a wide-ranging interview with \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that if Biden is elected on November 3, he will \u201cdestroy this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facing the multiple challenges of a spreading pandemic, racial unrest and a struggling economy, Trump made several unfounded or highly speculative accusations against the former vice president, saying Biden would \u201ctriple your taxes\u201d and \u201cdefund the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added broadly that \u201creligion will be gone,\u201d referring to Democratic officials banning large church services to stem the virus spread.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he would accept the election result in November, even if he loses, Trump echoed his position of 2016, saying, \u201cI have to see \u2026 I\u2019m not going to just say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The interview, which was taped in advance, came as new polling results showed support for Biden increasing as doubts about Trump\u2019s handling of the pandemic grow amid a resurgence of infections in many states.<\/p>\n
Interviewer Chris Wallace told the president that a new Fox opinion poll showed Biden with a substantial lead over Trump not only on his ability to manage the pandemic (with a 17-point edge) and to deal with racial unrest (by 21 points), but even \u2014 by a single point \u2014 on handling the economy, long a Trump strong point.<\/p>\n
And a new Washington Post-ABC News poll has Biden leading Trump among registered voters nationwide by a resounding 15-point margin, 55-to-40 percent.<\/p>\n
Trump dismissed such polling as \u201cfake,\u201d saying White House surveys show him winning both nationally and in key swing states.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Mommy, Mommy\u2026\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
He repeatedly pummeled Biden, who has kept a relatively low profile amid the restraints imposed by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Trump claimed that the Democrat wanted to \u201cdefund the police\u201d \u2014 a battle cry of some anti-racist protesters \u2014 and insisted that such language was in a Biden policy document, though he was unable to produce it when challenged by Wallace.<\/p>\n
As Trump, who is 74, repeatedly questioned his rival\u2019s mental acuity, Wallace asked him directly if thought Biden, 77, was senile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to say that,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cI say he\u2019s not competent to be president.\u201d<\/p>\n
He questioned whether the Democrat could pass a cognitive ability test that Trump said he had \u201caced,\u201d and said the former vice president would fall apart under tough questioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet Biden sit through an interview like this, he\u2019ll be on the ground crying for Mommy. He\u2019ll say, \u2018Mommy, Mommy, please take me home.'\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump again defended his handling of the pandemic, claiming that \u201cwe are the envy of the world\u201d on testing; and, of his early prediction that the virus would someday disappear, said, \u201cI\u2019ll be right eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
He again opposed any national mandate for mask-wearing, saying, \u201cI want people to have a certain freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden responded on Sunday, saying in a statement focused on the pandemic that \u201cit\u2019s long past due for President Trump to listen to somebody other than himself in how to fight this virus, because after six straight months of deadly mismanagement it is spiraling even more out of control.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cMr. President, your ignorance isn\u2019t a virtue or a sign of your strength \u2013 it\u2019s undercutting our response to this unprecedented crisis at every turn,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Don\u2019t care what military says\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Asked by Wallace about statistics showing American blacks are twice as likely to be shot and killed by police as whites, Trump replied, \u201cMany whites are killed also. You have to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he equated those who fly the Confederate flag with those saying that \u201cBlack Lives Matter,\u201d adding, \u201cIt\u2019s freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump again stated his opposition to renaming US military bases named after Confederate generals \u2014 even after the military supported the idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what the military says,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to name it after the Reverend Al Sharpton?\u201d he asked rhetorically, referring to a prominent African-American civil rights leader.<\/p>\n
On other subjects, Trump said the economy was \u201cdoing very well,\u201d even as millions remain jobless, with some states reimposing lockdowns. The stock market, he said, was near record highs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Desk: President Donald Trump assailed likely opponent Joe Biden as \u201cnot competent\u201d to lead the United States, speaking as polls over the weekend showed deepening voter disenchantment with his own handling of the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cHe\u2019s shot, he\u2019s mentally shot,\u201d Trump said about Biden in a wide-ranging interview with \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d He said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n