The 2020 presidential debate stage could see two candidates face-off in a push-up contest if age and/or mental state is brought into question, CNN reported.
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden recently told the hosts of the television show Morning Joe that he would challenge President Trump to a push-up contest, if the POTUS brings up the 76-year-old candidate’s mental faculties on stage.
On Tuesday, Biden appeared on the political program and engaged in a discussion about potential debate strategies.
Should Biden earn the Democratic nomination and Trump the Republican, the two will have to face off in the general election. Show co-host Mika Brzezinski asked what he would do if Trump poked fun at his age or behavior while the two were engaged in heated debate.
First, Biden said he wouldn’t fall prey to Trump’s confrontational means of debating.
Though he insisted he won’t stoop to Trump’s level in an effort to score political points from the voters, Biden did say he wouldn’t take “any gruff” from the president, either.
“I’m not going to get down in the dirt with him,” he said, “That’s the only place he knows how to fight.”
Instead, he plans to “continue to talk about what [Trump’s] doing — why it’s so damaging to America and, as my mother would say, I’m not going to take any gruff from him.”
“It’s very different than turning to someone on a stage who says something that’s so off the wall to me because I don’t want to attack anyone on stage, that’s not what I do,” Biden explained.
He added that he knows some think he won’t be able to take on Trump because he didn’t respond “very tough” to Kamala Harris.
He’s referencing a headline-grabbing clash between himself and Senator Harris during last month’s Democratic debate in which she questioned his record on civil rights.
But, to those people, Biden explained, “I’ve never had any trouble taking on anyone from Trump to [Valdamir Putin] to [Chinese President Xi Jinping] himself.”
While his plan of attack seems mostly verbal, Biden did joke that he would be up for a physical face-off, if need be.
“I would say, ‘Come on Donald, come on man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal?’ Jokingly,” Biden teased. “You know, come on, run with me, man.”
Though lighthearted in nature, this isn’t the first time Biden has suggested he would take on Trump in a show of force.
In a CNN interview with Chris Cuomo, the former vice president made a similar suggestion while rejecting any notions that he would be intimidated by the POTUS.
“The idea that I’d be intimidated by Donald Trump,” he said, pulling a face. “He is the bully that I knew my whole life. He’s the bully that I’ve always stood up to. He’s the bully that used to make fun of me when I was a kid that stuttered, and I’d smack him in the mouth.”
Last year, Biden made headlines after saying he would have “beat the hell” out of Trump if the two were in high school together.
Referencing the Access Hollywood video that emerged in which Trump can be heard making lewd comments about women, Biden said , “They asked me would I like to debate this gentleman, and I said no. I said, ‘If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.'”
His comments earned him laughter and applause from his audience at the University of Miami.
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However, Trump hasn’t simply remained quiet following these suggestions of violence.
“There is talk about Joe Biden,” Trump said back in 2018. “Sleepy Joe! You know when he said, ‘I’m going to take you behind the barn’? Oh, just trust me, I would kick his ass. He’d be so easy.”
h/t: CNN
