(CN) — Former President Donald Trump on Friday claimed victory in his first debate against President Joe Biden but stopped short of attacking his opponent’s age and mental acuity.
Although pundits pointed out that his arguments were rife with inaccuracies and misinformation, Trump was widely regarded as the victor of Thursday night’s debate — largely thanks to a lackluster performance from Biden, who struggled through the evening.
Following the debate, questions swirled about the president’s mental acuity, with some Republicans suggesting that Biden was no longer fit for office.
During a campaign rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, Trump took a victory lap for his debate performance. He boasted that he had won out over the incumbent president despite the fact that, in his view, the Biden camp had held all the cards.
“He didn’t know what he was doing,” Trump told the raucous crowd, arguing that the president’s team had the debate rules and CNN hosts on their side.
But the Republican candidate largely stepped away from criticizing Biden for his age or his cognitive state.
“Joe Biden’s problem is not his age,” Trump said, “it’s his incompetence. He’s grossly incompetent. He’s the worst, the most corrupt, the most incompetent president in the history of our country.”
Trump, 78, is just three years younger than Biden, who is 81.
The former president also addressed the suggestion that Democrats could replace Biden with another candidate before the party’s August convention.
“I don’t really believe that,” he said, “because he does better in polls than any of the people they’re talking about.”
Despite that, Trump name-dropped California Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris as potential replacements and spent some time bashing both.
Rather than going after the president’s age, the former president instead dialed in on Biden’s record in a meandering speech that touched on many of the candidate’s hot-button issues. He bashed the president for what he framed as out-of-control illegal immigration and repeated largely debunked claims that illegal immigrants were taking new jobs created by the administration.
Trump also promised to undertake “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if reelected.
The former president continued to make inaccurate statements about the Biden administration, claiming at one point that inflation under the current president was the highest in American history. The highest inflation rate in U.S. history was in 1917 at a rate of about 21%. As of June, the rate of inflation nationally was around 3.3%.
Trump also repeated his false claim that President Biden and Democrats support abortions “up until the moment of birth” and even after birth. The president has never made such a claim and actively rejected the suggestion during Thursday’s debate.
The former president further weighed in on the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that the Justice Department needs to meet a higher standard of evidence when prosecuting people detained after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump argued the rioters were “peacefully protesting” and that they should be immediately released from custody.
Five people were killed and hundreds were injured in the riot, during which rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The Justice Department had charged more than 350 people with attempting to obstruct an official proceeding of government.
Meanwhile, at several points in his speech, Trump repeated that Biden’s age was not at issue.
“The biggest problem for our country is not Joe Biden’s personal decline,” he said, arguing that the president’s policies were instead contributing to a national decline.
Trump’s comments — the first since the debate — came just hours after Biden appeared to return to form during his own campaign event in North Carolina. The president gave an impassioned speech in which he refuted his opponent’s arguments and again positioned himself as the only person capable of keeping Trump from a second term in office.
Democrats have largely circled up around the president, refusing to say whether they think he should be replaced with another candidate. Biden reassured his supporters Friday that he was up to the task.
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