President Biden called former President Trump “unusual” during an appearance on “The View” on Wednesday when questioned about Trump blaming Biden’s rhetoric for two recent assassination attempts.
“I think he is the most unusual president,” Biden said in response to a question by Joy Behar in which she called Trump’s characterization of Biden “unbelievable.”
“Look, Trump is, uh, um,” Biden began to respond. “Not a lot of social redeeming value there. He really does not — does not believe in democracy and the guardrails that our system has set up for the abuse of power.”
The president then highlighted the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol, calling Trump’s actions that day “absolutely bizarre” and adding that the world is looking toward the U.S. this election. Biden sat with the anchors of “The View” while in New York City this week for the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump has directly blamed Biden and Vice President Harris for the latest assassination attempt of him earlier this month, arguing their rhetoric was inspiring violence. Ryan Wesley Routh was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday after he showed up with a rifle to Trump’s Florida golf course where the former president was playing. Among the charges are attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
While on “The View,” Biden was also asked about his decision to drop his reelection bid and said an emphatic “yes” when asked if he would have won if he had stayed in the race.
“I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance of my running again. I didn’t sense that. … My polling was about, always within range of beating this guy [Trump],” Biden said.
He also quipped that his age was a major factor in that decision.
“There were some folks who would like to see me step aside, so we had a chance to move on. I get that,” he said. “But that wasn’t the reason that I stepped down. I stepped down because I started thinking about it. You know, it’s hard to think … but it’s hard for me to even say how old I am.”