Former President Donald Trump will take the stage at the upcoming 2024 presidential debate with President Joe Biden on June 27 — but in the days leading up to the event, he's been facing backlash for his claims that he's been preparing for the event his "whole life."
During a recent interview on Newsmax's Prime News, the ex-prez told the host, "I think I’ve been preparing for it for my whole life if you want to know the truth, and I’m not sure you can lock yourself into a room for two weeks or one week or two days and really learn what you have to know."
"I’ve been through it. I’ve been, you know, a popular president. We had some great elections and some amazing number of votes, nobody got more than we got. And you know, I know the subject," he continued. "Now they may get cute because it’s obviously at CNN, and I call it fake news for a long time. We’ll see how they do it. I think they have a lot at stake to be fair. I think they have to be fair. But we’ll see how we do. I think we’ll do very well.”
As clips of the interview made rounds on social media, critics mocked the presumptive GOP nominee. Some claimed he's "completely lost the plot" and has "the memory of a goldfish."
One user shared the clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, where they wrote: "This is definitely NOT a good sign for Trump tomorrow. He wasn't prepared in 2020, and he's going to be even less prepared for 2024."
Another person commented, "This election has evolved from a corpse vs. an insurrectionist, to a corpse vs. a convicted felon, to a corpse vs. another dumber corpse."
A third user joked, "We're about to see the most drugged-out presidential debate in history. Can't wait to be even more terrified for our future."
During the interview, Trump also referenced a report that claimed Biden had been practicing for the debate by standing for 90 minutes, to which he responded, “Let’s see what happens.”
He reiterated his comments that the United States is in trouble and called for a change in leadership because the country has allegedly “never been so embarrassed.”
“We have to change presidents,” the convicted former president said. “He’s the worst president in history, and we have to get change.”
As OK! previously reported, during an interview with Steve Gruber, Trump claimed he might let the 81-year-old president win the event to ensure he doesn't get removed from the Democratic ticket.
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“Well, you know, interestingly, they’ve done polling, and I do better against almost everybody,” Trump told Gruber.
“And so they don’t want to take him off,” he continued. “Maybe I’m better off losing the debate. I’ll make sure he stays. I’ll lose the debate on purpose. Maybe I’ll do something like that.”