After Republicans spent years depicting him as a near-comatose vegetable who literally does not know where he is, President Biden delivered a forceful State of the Union address. This created a dilemma for Republicans. One option was to attack the speech as partisan and mean. Another, more deranged choice, was to insist that Biden had only pulled it off due to the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.
You can guess which option Trump went with. The former president began posting manically on social media that his adversary, who he has previously labeled “sleepy” and also the mastermind of a plot to control the Ukrainian justice system for the benefit of his son, was on some kind of drug combination.
His minions were quickly taking the insinuation as fact.
It is theoretically possible, I suppose, that an 81-year-old teetotaling Catholic has suddenly embarked upon a drug-fueled lifestyle. But this raises the question of why, exactly, we should care that Biden is using these wonder drugs to elevate his public performance.
After all, in sports, we limit steroid use and other performance-enhancing drugs because those drugs have awful side effects, and give those willing to accept them an unfair advantage. What are the side effects of Biden’s alleged drug use? (Other Trump posts mentioned Biden’s coughing, which, if true, seem like an acceptable trade-off for turning a dementia-riddled zombie into a sprightly leader.)
Or is the idea that Biden is somehow rigging the election by using some kind of drugs that turn him into an energetic public speaker? Is Trump seeding the ground to challenge a potential Biden victory on the grounds that it was drug-enhanced?
More on the State of the Union
- Katie Britt Falsely Blamed Biden for Decades-Old Sex-Trafficking Crimes
- What Pundits Are Saying About Biden’s State of the Union (and Britt’s Response)
