House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) played up the “Sleepy Joe” jab while praising former Presidet Donald Trump during his interview on Fox’s Hannity Friday night.
“Donald Trump didn’t need to sleep five hours a night,” McCarthy said while appearing alongside Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and newly elected House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
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“I kinda see Joe as a little bit out of it, well, a little bit more than out of it, a little checked out,” Sean Hannity remarked during the segment. “And I’m concerned that I am not the only one that sees it. As a matter of fact, everybody I talk to says they see it.”
During his 2020 re-election campaign, Trump often referred to his opponent Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.” The term was attributed to Biden’s gaffe-prone campaign style. Trump first used the “Sleepy Joe Biden” nickname in March 2018, during remarks at the Gridiron Club. Speaking about the 2020 election, he said at the time, “There’s talk about Joe Biden, Sleepy Joe, getting into the race…. Just trust me, I would kick his ass. Boy, would he be easy. Oh, would he be easy…. He doesn’t have a shot.”
In May 2019, Trump referred to the 2020 Democratic nominee as “SleepyCreepy Joe.”
“Looks to me like it’s going to be SleepyCreepy Joe over Crazy Bernie [Sanders],” Trump tweeted, as reported by Fox News. “Everyone else is fading fast!”
During a speech last October to kick off the first of three reelection rallies in Pennsylvania, Trump took aim at Biden’s popularity by reviving the “Sleepy Joe” diss.
“Did you watch him on ‘60 Minutes’ last night?” Trump asked the crowd. “Did you see yesterday when he called me George? ‘No, no, I don’t if I like George.’ No, not George. Not George. What a mess.”
“Can you even imagine losing to a guy like this?” he continued. “He can’t even remember my name. Now, I’m not that big of an ego guy. He should be able — I’m the candidate, good candidate. He could not remember my name yesterday. This is who you’re putting in office.”
As reported by Yahoo, Biden was actually referring to comedian George Lopez who interviewed the former vice president for a live stream called “I Will Vote.”
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In March 2020, while defending criticism over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump said “If sleepy Joe was president he wouldn’t even know what’s going on,” he noted during an interview on Fox & Friends. “We have taken this thing and done a hell of a job,” Trump said of his administration’s response to the pandemic.
“At no time, having known Joe Biden for some time, does he have the energy of Donald Trump,” said McCarthy to Hannity on Friday. “Donald Trump didn’t need to sleep 5 hours and he would be engaged. If you called Donald Trump, he’d get on the phone before staff would.”
McCarthy, Scalise and Stefanik largely attacked Biden’s policies during the Hannity interview.
“I am excited about Elise Stefanik joining the leadership team because Joe Biden is not just ignoring the problems, he’s igniting them,” McCarthy said.
You can watch McCarthy’s remarks via the Twitter clip above.
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