Donald Trump scolded Joe Biden for coughing into his hand at his State of the Union address and mimicked the president’s stutter at his first rally kicking off the general election fight.
In the first chunk of his rally in Rome, Georgia on Saturday, Trump narrowed in on the southern border as he slammed Biden’s policies and excoriated him for botching the name of murdered nursing student Laken Riley, 22.
Trump is also furious that Biden apologized on Saturday for calling the illegal immigrant charged with murdering Riley last month an ‘illegal’.
He met with Riley’s family backstage at his rally and attacked Biden on stage over the situation at the border and getting her name wrong during the State of the Union.
Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden’s childhood stutter and dry coughs during a rally in Rome, Georgia on Saturday – the first campaign stop after Super Tuesday and President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address
Trump is also furious that Biden apologized on Saturday for calling the illegal immigrant charged with murdering Riley last month an ‘illegal’
Biden issued several dry coughs into his fist during his State of the Union address on Thursday
Meanwhile, Biden appeared just an hour down the road for a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia right before Trump appeared on stage.
Biden said it’s telling who a person ‘keeps company with’ in reference to rally guest of honor Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
‘By far the most disgraceful of Joe Biden’s divisive and angry speech – so angry.. he’s screaming, screaming and then coughing,’ Trump said, then dished out a few fake coughs into his fist.
‘And he’s always using the right hand,’ noted the former president, who has been called a germaphobe. ‘He gets off the stage, did you notice nobody wanted to shake his hand?’
‘He’s always coughing into his hand. And it’s not a real cough, it’s a nervous habit. He’s got to stop. Because there was no real cough,’ Trump said, this time issuing an even more dramatic, dry fake cough to laughter.
The former president met with Riley’s parents and friends before his first rally since his sweeping primary election wins on Super Tuesday last week and Biden’s State of the Union on Thursday.
‘He got Laken’s name wrong. Lincoln. Mixing her up with the football coach,’ Trump said in reference to University of Southern California football coach Lincoln Michael Riley.
‘Are we going crazy, or what? Is this country going crazy?’ the former president said in reference to Biden’s policies.
Laken Riley’s family and friends attended the rally in Rome, Georgia on Saturday. An illegal immigrant was charged with her murder
The former president met backstage from the rally with those close to the 22-year-old nursing student.
‘We share your grief,’ Trump said on stage, adding that Riley is ‘home with God in Heaven’.
Speaking with MSNBC, Biden apologized for using the word ‘illegal’ when speaking about the man charged with Riley’s murder near the University of Georgia. Instead, the president said he should have used the term ‘undocumented,’ which is preferred by immigration activists.
‘He was an illegal alien, he was an illegal immigrant, he was an illegal migrant and he should have never been in this country and he wouldn’t have been under Trump’s policies,’ the former president insisted.
He added that Biden has ‘no remorse, no regret’ and ‘should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer.’
Trump pointed to several moments in Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday that angered him and demanded they debate.
Biden admittedly had a childhood stutter that sometimes still stumbles his speech. But his age and mumbling has also made it more difficult to understand him, at times.
‘Two nights ago we all heard Crooked Joe’s angry, dark, hateful rant of a State of the Union address. Didn’t it bring us together?’ Trump sarcastically quipped.
He then mocked Biden with: Remember he said: ‘I’m going to bring the country t-t-t-t-together. I’m going to bring it together.’
‘No, no. He’s a threat to democracy.’
Trump rally attendees at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia on Saturday, March 9, 2024 hold posters with images of Riley, 22
The event Saturday is the first rally after Trump’s final primary competitor Nikki Haley conceded after sweeping Super Tuesday losses last week. The former United Nations ambassador only won Vermont out of the 15 states that voted.
Trump’s rally in Georgia is also the first time the former president had a chance to get on stage and respond after Biden’s last State of the Union address of this term.
Georgia is a swing state massively important to clinch the presidential election victory in November. Trump won the southern state in 2016 with 50.4 percent of the vote, but it flipped blue in 2020 with Biden beating him by just 0.3 percent.
One of the election fraud lawsuits against Trump was brought in Georgia by liberal Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former president claims this is a sham lawsuit and a politically motivated case against him.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene entered the arena around 1:00 p.m. – four hours before Trump’s scheduled arrival – and received a standing ovation at the rally in her Georgia congressional district 14 where many attendees are those she represents in the House.
The lawmaker walked around with a sign with an image of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while on a jog last month.
At least dozens – and maybe hundreds – of attendees around the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia also held up the signs, which on the back read: ‘Remember our Angles.’
Greene made remarks around 3:30 p.m. where she tore in Biden for ‘butchering’ Riley’s name during his State of the UNion – but gave him credit for saying an ‘illega’ killed her.
‘One thing that happened during the State of the Union this week is when I saw Joe Biden walking down the aisle – I held up this pin,’ the conservative lawmaker said pointing to her button that reads: ‘Laken Riley. Say her name.’
‘Because one of our girls, one of our sweet Americans, a beautiful 22-year-old girl studying to be a nurse because all she wanted to do was help people. She just wanted to help people her entire life. And her life was taken by an illegal alien, a monster that should have never been in our country,’ Greene added.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was given a warm welcome by rally goers in her congressional district in Rome, Georgia on Saturday
Rep. Greene held up signs with ‘say her name’ and an image with Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last month by an illegal immigrant
But President Biden flubbed her name after the young woman’s murder became a symbol of the border crisis.
Speaking to millions of Americans in his annual State of the Union address the president twice called the slain student ‘Lincoln’ as he held up MTG’s pin bearing her name.
‘When I saw Joe Biden, I showed him this pin and said ‘Say her name. Say her name Say her name. Laken Riley. Say her name.’ And then during his speech, after nearly 50 minutes in, he hadn’t talked about the open border. He had not even mentioned it. So I yelled for my seat: ‘Say her name!’ the congresswoman recounted.
‘And then, he butchered her name, he mispronounced it – didn’t even say it right, he said ‘Lincoln.’ Her name is Laken, Laken Riley,’ she added. ‘But you want to know what he did say? He said she was an American murdered by an illegal. That’s right. Even Joe Biden was forced to tell the truth. That is the truth.’
The Forum in Rome, Georgia is about an hour north of Atlanta and has a capacity of approximately 4,000 for an event set up like for Trump’s rally.
The director of rapid response for the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection said Trump’s choice in rally location is just helping push the Democratic agenda as the campaign called Rep. Greene a ‘QAnon supporting, abortion and IVF blocking, antisemitic extremist.’
‘The choice in this election is the split screen we are seeing today in Georgia,’ Ammar Moussa said in a statement on the dueling campaign events in Georgia on Saturday.
‘Donald Trump is kicking off his general election campaign with MAGA extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene – dividing America, threatening revenge and retribution, and pushing his dangerous Project 2025 agenda of abortion bans, threats to IVF, and Social Security cuts.’
‘About an hour down the road, President Biden is building off the momentum of his State of the Union speech to hear from voters and let them know he’s fighting to make their lives better,’ he added.
While the officially nominating conventions are not until July and August, the stage is set for a rematch between Trump and Biden in 2024 after Super Tuesday handed them sweeping victories.
