MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire argued Friday that Donald Trump is “projecting” his own penchant for snoozing in public onto his predecessor Joe Biden, whom Trump notably nicknamed “Sleepy Joe.”
The “Morning Joe” co-host made his case after Trump once again fell asleep at the White House, this time during a discussion of “clean coal.”
“This is becoming almost a daily occurrence,” Lemire said Friday. “And as much as the White House likes to push back on this, there are questions about his health, his fitness. He had another physical at Walter Reed a week or so back.”
He noted, “We haven’t really gotten much in the way of results.”
Trump indeed had his third “annual” checkup in 13 months last week and has fallen asleep in public on such a regular basis that Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for answers during a heated congressional hearing Wednesday.
Lemire reminded his “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist that Trump, who turns 80 next week, has relentlessly mocked his 83-year-old predecessor for being sleepy.
“This is clearly President Trump projecting his own, perhaps, frailties and need for naps during the day,” said Lemire.
Trump’s allies appear to be in full denial about the president’s public shuteye.
“I’ve never seen him fall asleep,” Rubio told Lieu on Wednesday. “On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem, ’cause he calls me at 2 in the morning, he calls me at 5 in the morning. I like to sleep a little bit; maybe not 12 hours, but at least six.”
Lieu went on to play a clip of Trump seemingly dozing off last month during a televised Cabinet meeting, noting Rubio was sitting next to him at the time and “literally talking about issues of war and peace.” But Rubio dismissed the line of questioning as “absurd.”
Lemire also noted that the Trump administration’s “Rapid Response” account on X called Reuters reporter Idrees Ali an “absolute moron” last month because the journalist merely shared a photo of Trump with his eyes closed. The administration claimed the president was “blinking.”
