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Trump revives 'Sleepy Joe' attacks, but gets the facts wrong

President Trump kicked off the first of his three reelection rallies in Pennsylvania on Monday by renewing his attempt to depict former Vice President Joe Biden as “sleepy” and confused. But it was Trump who got his facts wrong.

In a speech in Allentown, Pa., that stretched over 81 minutes, the president seized on a purported flub — first tweeted by a Republican operative and picked up by Fox News — in which Biden appeared to begin saying the name of former President George W. Bush rather than President Trump during a virtual campaign event.

Trump misstated the source of the quote, attributing it to CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which had broadcast interviews with the presidential candidates Sunday night.

“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?” the president 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.”

Donald Trump
Trump at a rally in Allentown, Pa., on Monday. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Except Biden was not referring to Trump by the wrong name. He was addressing the comedian George Lopez, who was interviewing him for a live stream called “I Will Vote.”

“If someone who is undecided, or maybe thinking about not voting, why should they vote and why should they vote for you?” Lopez asked Biden.

"Well, first of all, the reason they should vote is that there’s a lot on the ballot this year,” Biden said. “I mean, this is the most consequential — not because I’m running, but because who I’m running against — this is the most consequential election in a long, long time. And the character of the country in my view is literally on the ballot, what kind of country we’re going to be. Four more years of — George, uh, George — is gonna find ourselves in a position of where if Trump gets elected, we’re gonna be in, we’re gonna be in a different world.”

In an earlier tweet on Monday, Trump referred to the same clip. “Joe Biden called me George yesterday,” the president tweeted. “Couldn’t remember my name. Got some help from the anchor to get him through the interview. The Fake News Cartel is working overtime to cover it up!”

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