Of all the things people could possibly be discussing in regard to politics, the question of whether or not one politician could beat up another one doesn’t seem like it should even be considered for discussion outside a reddit fantasy league or a playground. So, obviously absolutely everyone is talking about whether President Trump could take down former vice president Joe Biden. Because of course they are.
The Washington Post reports that the general consensus among cable news reporters regarding Biden’s recent comment that he would “beat the hell out of” Trump while speaking at the University of Miami is that it was hypocritical. Some reporters also consider Trump’s tweet returning fire to be equally inappropriate and out of line with the usual, notable exceptions.
Biden spoke to the University of Miami College Democrats on Tuesday. The comments about beating up Trump came while he was discussing sexual assault and the infamous Access Hollywood tapes that surfaced during the 2016 elections came up. He disparaged Trump’s crude commentary to women and said that he’d rather “take him behind the barn and beat the hell out of him” than debate him.
If any of that sounds familiar, it’s because Biden said almost the exact same thing in October of 2016 in reference to the same “locker room talk.”
Trump decided to hit back at Biden for his comment, taking to Twitter on Thursday to say that he could easily beat up “Crazy Joe Biden,” and that he “would go down hard and fast, crying all the way.”
Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2018
CNBC’s Mike Brzezinski said Biden shouldn’t “say things like that,” lest he “play into the president’s game.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham condemned the fact that Biden was speaking against sexual assault while condoning physical assault. Even as she said this behavior was inexcusable, she made sure to make one thing clear: She believes Trump would win in this hypothetical fight.
Sean Hannity not only sought to establish that Trump would be the one to come out on top of a potential fight between the two; he also said he, too, could take down Biden, no problem. He also made sure to point out he trains MMA, just to really bring the intimidation in this increasingly strange fight.
The fact that this conversation is even happening at all, never mind the fact that national news anchors are weighing in on it, might just be the most ridiculous thing that has happened in 2018 so far. It is childish and the furthest thing from professional.
(But, come on, Biden would totally win.)