During the annual conference speech of the National Rifle Association (NRA), former US President Donald Trump suddenly paused for about 30 seconds during his remarks. Trump, who was the Republican presidential candidate in the US, stopped speaking and appeared frozen for a moment due to frequent verbal slip-ups and memory lapses that had been a point of contention for the Biden camp. On the 18th, Trump spoke for about 1 hour and 30 minutes at the NRA annual conference in Texas.
Encouraging voting and praising Texas in his speech, Trump suddenly fell silent with about 10 minutes of speech time left. He appeared to stare straight ahead and then shook his head from side to side before continuing to exhibit a focused expression as captured in the live broadcast of the speech.
After keeping silent for about 30 seconds, he resumed speaking by saying, “Our country is in decline.” Supporters of President Joe Biden, aged 81, criticized Trump the day after the speech, alleging that “Trump is losing his mind.” They called attention to what they saw as a clear issue of Trump’s advanced age and unsuitability for the presidency.
Newsweek reported that Harry Sisson, a Democratic content creator, stated, “Trump, who is rapidly declining mentally, should resign from the presidential race as soon as possible.” However, Trump’s supporters raised possibilities such as a malfunctioning prompter or Trump possibly hearing shouts from the audience during that moment when he paused.
Stephen Cheong, a spokesperson for the Trump camp, stated on the 19th, “Comparably high-strung reaction in the face of the disastrous Biden presidency.” This refers to Biden’s repeated verbal slip-ups during official appearances being described as a “disaster.” Cheong further expressed concern about “whether America led by Biden can move in the right direction.”
With the November election approaching, the Republican Party has consistently highlighted Biden’s “age risk” in challenging his re-election bid by focusing on his verbal slip-ups and memory issues. Trump made a mistake during a fundraising event in California on the 10th by referring to Kim Jong-un as the South Korean President. Additionally, the revelation in February of a report by Special Prosecutor Robert Hager referring to Biden as a “senile old man” in connection with a leak of confidential documents further brought attention to the age risk issue.