Donald Trump aides reportedly had to stop their boss from nicknameing President Joe Biden with an offensive and outdated slur.
According to a story published Saturday by The Atlantic, the Republican candidate for president was eager to call his rival “Retarded Joe Biden” after the Democrat’s lackluster debate performance at the beginning of the summer.
‘That man is retarded. He’s retarded. I think that’s what I’m going to call him,” Trump reportedly told staffers traveling with him on his campaign plane, Trump Force One, in June.
Trump’s aides urged the former president to float the youthful name, telling him it could alienate moderate voters and stoke sympathy for an already withering Biden campaign.
Ultimately, campaign staff were able to convince the politician to reconsider using the word in public.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman, disputed the story, telling The Atlantic in a statement accompanying the story that the nickname “was never discussed and is materially incorrect.”
Although he had to be convinced to give up the derogatory nickname, Trump still has plenty of other insults for Biden. Over the years, he has called the president “Crooked Joe,” “Sleepy Joe,” “Slow Joe” and “Joe Hiden.”
