President Joe Biden suggested Friday he would have liked to fight former President Donald Trump when they were children, echoing similar rhetoric he has used, fantasizing about a physical confrontation with his rival.
During an appearance on Sirius XM’s Howard Stern Show on Friday, Stern and Biden were discussing Biden’s stuttering difficulties as a child when he said he would have liked to meet Trump “head to head” “in the neighborhood.”
“But by that time, I was over most of the stuttering, but like, for example, you know, I mean, Trump makes fun of me,” Biden said. “Here’s the kind of guy in the neighborhood you wish you could have gotten in the neighborhood and meet head to head.”
The shock jock and president then pivoted to the “first fistfight” the president had.
Biden had implied he would like to fight Trump multiple times dating back to 2016, when he was still vice president and Hillary Clinton was the Democrat presidential nominee.
“The press always asks me, don’t I wish I were debating him? No, I wish we were in high school; I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish,” Biden said while remarking on the Access Hollywood tape.
Trump responded at the time by saying he would “love that” and mockingly called Biden “Mr. Tough Guy.”
“Did you see where Biden wants to take me ‘to the back of the barn,’” Trump said. “I’d love that. I’d love that. Mr. Tough Guy.”
“You know when he’s Mr. Tough Guy? When he’s standing in front of a microphone by himself,” he added.
Two years later, in 2018, Biden referenced his 2016 quote at a sexual assault awareness rally, adding he would like to “beat the hell out of [Trump].”
He also announced on the Stern show he is willing to debate Trump, as Breitbart News reported.
The president said, “I am somewhere. I am happy to debate him,” when Stern asked if he would agree to Trump’s debate request. Trump responded on Truth Social he would debate “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”