Donald Trump aides reportedly had to steer their boss away from nicknaming President Joe Biden with an offensive and outdated slur.
According to a story published by The Atlantic on Saturday, the Republican candidate for president was eager to call his rival “Retarded Joe Biden” after the Democrat’s lackluster debate performance in early summer.
“The guy’s a retard. He’s retarded. I think that’s what I’ll start calling him,” Trump reportedly told staffers traveling with him on his campaign plane, Trump Force One, back in June.
Trump’s aides urged the former president to table the juvenile moniker, telling him it could alienate moderate voters and garner sympathy for an already wilting Biden campaign.
In the end, campaign staff was able to convince the politician to rethink using the word in public.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, disputed the account, telling The Atlantic in a statement included in the story that the nickname “was never discussed and this is materially false.”
Though he had to be convinced to abandon the derogatory sobriquet, Trump still has plenty of other insults for Biden. Over the years, he’s called the president “Crooked Joe,” “Sleepy Joe,” “Slow Joe” and “Joe Hiden.”
