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A video circulating on social media shows Donald Trump appearing to have difficulty speaking clearly during a rally in Rochester, New Hampshire. The brief clip, shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the Biden-Harris HQ account managed by Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, has raised concerns among viewers.
The footage, sourced from the conservative outlet Right Side Broadcasting Network, captures Trump making comments “You don’t have to be a total genius, remain in Mexico, until you’ve…” at which point he becomes unintelligible for the final two seconds. The Biden-Harris HQ account wrote: “Trump slurs his words while ranting: In Mexico until [unintelligible].”
Republicans have placed significant emphasis on Joe Biden’s health and mental sharpness, with many suggesting that the 81-year-old may not have the endurance for another term in the White House.
In response, Democrats have countered by highlighting 77-year-old Trump’s potential candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, pointing out instances like when he seemed to mix up GOP rival Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi during a rally in New Hampshire.
The footage originally posted by the Biden-Harris HQ was reposted on X by the ‘Biden’s Wins’ account, boasting a following of more than 306,000 users, along with the following message: “BREAKING: Donald Trump is slurring his words. Why won’t the media cover his mental decline?”
Another account aligned with the Democratic party penned: “Hey media? Can you cover ANYTHING about Trump slurring his words? He is not healthy.”
Subsequently, they tagged the X accounts of ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN Politics, and MSNBC. During his speech, the former president criticized Biden on immigration issues and expressed support for the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy that he introduced in January 2019. This policy mandated that migrants awaiting their U.S. immigration court date remain in Mexico.
Trump elaborated by stating, “So we have a policy ‘Remain in Mexico.’ You don’t have to be a total genius, remain in Mexico until… We had hundreds of thousands of people in Tijuana, this was not a lovely place at that point, this was not a good place to take the family for a little trip, it was rough stuff, but you know what they weren’t in our country and we do it right. We had such a great system.”
Tijuana, a city in Mexico located near the California border, has served as a significant gateway for migrants seeking to enter the United States.
Critiquing his replacement, Trump further stated: “Under Biden, the USA has been turned into a dumping ground and a disrespected one. We have people coming in from all over the world, from parts unknown, speaking languages that people here have never even heard, and they’re being dumped into our country. They’re coming in from mental institutions, they’re coming in from jails and prisons, they’re terrorists and they’re coming in at levels nobody’s ever seen before.”
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has observed a significant increase in suspected illegal migrant encounters along the southern border in recent years, with 2.4 million encounters reported in the 2023 fiscal year compared to 1.7 million in 2021.
In September, the Department of Homeland Security disclosed that they had prevented 216 individuals listed on the Terrorist Screening Dataset from entering the country so far that year, an increase from 165 in the entire 2022 fiscal year.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew from the Republican leadership competition on Sunday and endorsed Trump. DeSantis criticized his primary opponent Nikki Haley, labeling her as a representative of “warmed over corporatism.”
Voters in New Hampshire are set to participate in the state’s Republican primary on Tuesday, with polls indicating Trump is the frontrunner to secure victory, much like he did in the Iowa caucus on January 15.