Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
- Trump vented about his position in the 2020 polls early last year, according to a new book.
- Trump interrupted a policy meeting at the White House and called Biden a “mental r—–.”
- At the time Trump had been lagging behind Biden in the polls.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Former President Donald Trump interrupted a policy meeting in the Oval Office in early 2020 to vent about his position in the polls and attack then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden, according to a new book.
“How am I losing in the polls to a mental r—–?” Trump said at the time, per an excerpt of a forthcoming book by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender published on Monday in Vanity Fair.
The book, titled “Frankly, We Did Win This Election”: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” provides a deeper look into Trump’s election loss last year leading up to the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Bender reported extensively on the subject and met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort at least twice for the book, which will hit stores in August.
At the time of trump’s reported slur, Biden consistently outpaced Trump in national polls, according to averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight and Real Clear Politics.
Throughout the campaign, Trump and his Republican allies repeatedly attacked Biden’s mental acuity and tried to paint him as mentally unfit to become president. The Trump campaign ran ads attempting to undermine Biden’s cognitive abilities, showing clips of him stuttering during speeches. On the campaign trail, Biden opened up about his struggles of growing up with a stutter.
By August, Trump had challenged his Democratic opponent to take a cognitive test, which Biden firmly rejected. “Why the hell would I take a test?” he told a reporter at the time, scoffing.
According to polling by Insider in February, most Americans think Biden, now 78, is mentally fit for the job.
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