Trump accuses Biden of taking drugs for ‘hate filled speech’

President wins praise from his party for fiery address while his predecessor gave a running commentary

SENIOR Democrats have rallied around Joe Biden after his fiery State of the Union speech, despite accusations by Donald Trump that the US president gave a “hate-filled” address after taking drugs.

Mr Biden set out a forceful case for a second term on Thursday, attacking his Republican opponent for creating a “threat to democracy” and responding to critics who have raised concerns about his age. In an hour-long address to both houses of Congress and senior members of the military and judiciary, the president called for more aid to be sent to Ukraine and promised new legal protections for abortion rights if he is re-elected this year.

“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while, and when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before,” he said. “I know the American story. Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation, between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future. My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy.”

The State of the Union address – Mr Biden’s most significant political speech this year – comes after the Super Tuesday primary elections that set up a rematch with Mr Trump in November.

Senior Democrats welcomed the speech as evidence that Mr Biden, 81, was still “strong” after months of concern about his age and opinion ratings.

Chuck Schumer, the party’s majority leader in the Senate, said: “The speech showed that America is strong and President Biden is strong.” Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, said: “President Biden showed up, delivered a forceful speech and smoked the Maga extremists.”

Mr Trump, responding live to the speech on his Truth Social platform, suggested that Mr Biden had taken drugs to allow him to give a coherent performance. As the President stumbled at one point in his speech, his predecessor posted: “THE DRUGS ARE WEARING OFF!”

He later added: “This was an angry, polarising, and hate-filled Speech [sic]. He barely mentioned Immigration [sic], or the Worst Border in the History of the World. He will never fix Immigration [sic], nor does he want to. He wants our Country [sic] to be flooded with Migrants [sic]. Crime will raise [sic] to levels never seen before, and it is happening very quickly!”

Sean Hannity, a Trump ally and Fox News presenter, said that Mr Biden “spent most of the night shouting and speeding through his speech”. He added: “I call him Jacked-up Joe. That’s being charitable. He sounded like a hyper-caffeinated, angry old man.”

A poll taken by SSRS after the address showed that it was generally well-received by Americans, with 35 per cent reporting a “very positive” reaction and 29 per cent saying they felt “somewhat positive” about it.

Mr Biden used the airtime to outline his re-election campaign, with focus on the war in Ukraine, abortion rights and the Jan 6 Capitol riots that followed the 2020 election result. “History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6,” he said.

Citing the Second World War, the Cold War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and John F Kennedy, Mr Biden sought to portray himself as an elder statesman who remembered previous threats to democracy.