Former Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning in Iowa, challenged a man to do pushups or go for a run with him after the man began peppering him with questions about his son, Hunter. You can watch video of the confrontation later in this article. The exchange is getting some traction on social media.
“You want to check my shape man, let’s do pushups together here, man. Let’s run. Let’s do whatever you want to do. Let’s take an IQ test. Ok?” Biden said at one point to the man. The town hall was part of Biden’s “No Malarkey” tour through Iowa. The exchange occurred at a town hall in New Hampton, Iowa.
The man was later identified as Merle Gorman, 83, a former Marine and retired farmer who says he has no regrets about it all. He told the New York Post that he wasn’t a Donald Trump supporter and voted for Barack Obama.
The man told Biden: “We all know Trump has been messing around in Ukraine over there…but you on the other hand sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company that he had no experience with gas or nothin’ in order to get access to the president, so, you’re selling access to the president, just like he was.” The man said that he saw it on the TV.
“You’re a damn liar,” Biden told the man. “That’s not true. And no one has ever said that…you see it on the TV, and I know you do.” That was just the start of the exchange, however.
“I’m not sedentary,” Biden also said at one point. “I get up and…Look the reason I’m running is I’ve been around a long time…and I can get things done.” The man told Biden he wasn’t going to vote for him, at which point Biden said, “Of course you’re not; you’re too old to vote for me!”
Watch:
Biden gets into bizarre, tense exchange with a voter in Iowa, who confronts the former VP about his son, Hunter, and whether he’s too old for the presidency.
He later suggests the man is fat and challenges him to a push-up contest.
This is something.
Here’s another view:
Man “You don’t have any more backbone then Trump does… I’m not voting for you.”
Joe Biden: “I knew you weren’t man. You’re too old to vote for me.”
Biden also defended his son Hunter. “No one has said my son has done anything wrong and I did not on any occasion, and no one has ever said it, not one… you said I set up my son to work in an oil company… Isn’t that what you said? Get your words straight, Jack….you did not hear that on MSNBC.”
The Trump War Room claimed on Twitter that Biden also called the man “fat,” and identified the man as a retired farmer.
Joe Biden EXPLODED in anger at a retired farmer who asked about his son’s payouts from a Ukrainian gas company.
“You’re a damn liar,” Biden said before challenging him to “an IQ test.”
Biden also called the man “jack” and “fat” and “too old.”
Biden never answered the question.
The Trump War Room also shared a video of Biden bringing up his IQ years ago.
On social media, some people accused Biden of “fat shaming” the man.
Other Biden campaign appearances recently have caused some controversy; for example, at one campaign stop, Biden was photographed appearing to nibble on his wife’s finger as a joke when she almost accidentally hit him in the face while making a hand gesture.
Some people reacted on social media. “@JoeBiden how disgusting are you? This is how you treat middle America? Drop out now!” demanded one. However, others defended Biden. “Good for @JoeBiden..being a voter doesnt give anyone the right to spew lies and they should be called out for it no matter who spreads them,” said one woman.
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