Donald Trump in Detroit on Tuesday
President Joe Biden was often ridiculed by the GOP for some of his speeches in which he fumbled, paused and sometimes wandered off point. There were times the criticism was valid.
Now, Edith Oldmsted of The New Republic weighs in on Donald Trump's speech Tuesday before the National Guard Association at the Huntington Place in downtown Detroit titled: "Old Man Trump Slurs and Stumbles Through Weird Speech."
She writes:
Donald Trump gave another low-energy speech Monday during an appearance at the National Guard Association of the United States General Conference in Detroit.
Trump’s sleepy, staggered reading from his teleprompter focused largely on criticisms of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and Kamala Harris who Trump has knocked as being the “last person in the room” with Biden before the decision was made. Trump, who reportedly viewed Afghanistan as a lost cause during his time in office, has repeatedly blamed Biden for abandoning $85 billion worth of equipment in Afghanistan, although it was more like $7 billion.
Trump has also blamed Biden’s accelerated withdrawal timeline for the deaths of 13 U.S. service members, who were killed in a terrorist attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport that also killed 170 Afghans. The Republican nominee appeared at a memorial honoring the three-year anniversary of the attack on Monday morning, but by the afternoon, he seemed confused by the event.
“And the fake news doesn’t want to talk about it.” Trump complained on stage. “They don’t even talk about the three-year anniversary—a terrible word to use, but that’s what they’re calling it, an ‘anniversary.’ I think of ‘anniversary’ as a little bit different, but it’s three years now,” Trump said. Of course, “anniversary” simply refers to the date that an event took place in a previous year—its alternative meaning to Trump is yet unclear.
Biden and Kamala Harris have sometimes been called out by the fact checkers. But Trump doesn't disappoint when it comes to keeping fact checkers busy.
The New Republic points out he lied when he said no soldiers were killed for 18 months in Afghanistan. During Trump’s presidency, there were 45 hostile deaths and 63 total deaths, with no 18-month gap in casualties, the publication writes. He also said the U.S. left behind about $86 billion in new equipment in Afghanistan when the number is closer to $7 billion.
Trump was introduced by his buddy Kid Rock, aka Robert Ritchie, a Detroit area native who performed at the Republican National Convention in July in Milwauekee.
After coming out briefly, Trump introduced former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020. She spoke briefly, praising Trump, before bringing him back on stage.
