Trump rages at Biden on Truth Social after ‘freezing’ on stage during NRA speech

Donald Trump reacted furiously to Joe Biden after he appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds midway through his speech at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting over the weekend.

The 77-year-old former president was encouraging armed Texans to vote ahead of November’s presidential election during his speech in Dallas when he suddenly fell silent.

Supporters of President Joe Biden were quick to attack Mr Trump, with his campaign team calling him “weak” on X, questioning the Republican’s mental competence.

Mr Trump, however, claimed that it was all just a “concocted story by the Biden campaign” in a rant on Truth Social.

“The Biden campaign … spread a false story that I was ‘frozen’ for 30 seconds, before the ‘Musical Interlude’ section, when in reality the 30- to 60-second period of silence is standard in every one of my speeches where we use music,” he said, with typical sporadic use of capital letters.

Mr Trump tried to twist the events to attack the president, who has often been criticized for his memory and mental health.

“The reason they invented this disinformation is because Biden freezes all the time, can’t string two sentences together, and rarely gets off stage without help. Donald Trump doesn’t freeze!” he added.

On Saturday, Mr. Trump began praising Texans and their Wild West heritage to what he called a “record crowd” of “enthusiastic patriots.”

Silence can be a useful tool to emphasize points and ensure that key messages get across. However, Mr. Trump concluded that part of his speech and did not say another word for another 30 seconds.

“The spirit of Texas’ proud independence was forged by cowboys and ranchers, ranchers and forest rangers, oil workers, soldiers and brave, brave, brave frontiersmen,” he told the crowd of gun owners.

“Many came here with nothing but their boots or their feet, the clothes on their backs and the rifles in their saddles. Together, they helped make America the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Trump concluded before his half-minute pause.

This is not the only moment in Mr Trump’s speech that has been attacked by Biden and his campaign team.

The former president held on to his podium as he wobbled on stage, leading Biden’s campaign team to comment that he had lost his footing from leaning “too hard” on his podium.

Trump, however, claimed that it was the podium that was defective, pointing to his own strength and reflexes that prevented the podium from tipping over.

“As for the podium, I actually prevented it from falling due to good reflexes and strength, two things Joe Biden doesn’t have,” he said on Truth Social.

After the onstage misstep, he appeared to mock the president, joking that it “continues to lean further to the left … like too many other things,” he said as he surveyed the platform.