President Joe Biden dialed up his personal insults of Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling the presumptive Republican nominee a “loser” while making fun of his handling of the Covid pandemic.
Biden got his jabs in during remarks at an annual awards gala in Washington for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
“That other guy, that loser. I think he’s having trouble,” Biden said, without referring to Trump by name.
The insult was met with laughter in the ballroom for an event honoring Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
President Joe Biden speaks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ annual gala Tuesday in Washington.Alex Brandon / AP
Biden also knocked Trump on his handling of the Covid pandemic when he was in office four years ago.
“Look, I’ll never forget him lying about the pandemic, telling Americans to inject bleach into their skin,” Biden said Tuesday. “I wonder if he did it. It might explain something.”
In 2020, Trump publicly mused about whether disinfectant could be effective in clearing the body of Covid by “injection.”
Multiple aides and advisers recently told NBC News that Biden’s increasing broadsides against Trump, targeting topics from his financial woes to his weight, have been part of a strategy steered by Biden himself.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s remarks.
Tuesday was not the first time Biden has focused on Trump’s Covid remarks. He referred to Trump’s comment about using a cleaning agent to combat the virus at campaign events last week.
“Remember him saying the best thing to do is just inject a little bleach in your arm?” Biden said at a campaign reception Friday.
“That’s what he said. And he meant it. I wish he had done a little bit himself.”
Zoë Richards
Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner is the coordinating producer for the NBC News White House unit.