Donald Trump Taunts Jill Biden Over Debate Night 'Stroke' Fears and Claims His Own Performance Made Joe 'Choke'
Donald Trump seized on Jill Biden's memoir revelations to claim he was responsible for Joe Biden's debate collapse.
May 31 2026, Published 5:50 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump is taking a victory lap over Joe Biden's disastrous 2024 debate performance, claiming his own showing onstage was so strong it caused his rival to completely unravel, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The president seized on a startling new admission from former first lady Jill Biden, who revealed she feared her husband was suffering a medical emergency during the now-infamous showdown that helped derail his reelection campaign.
Donald Trump Claims He Knows What Really Happened
Donald questioned whether his 'strong performance' caused Joe to 'plain and simple choke' onstage.
Donald mocked Jill after excerpts from her new memoir revealed she believed something was seriously wrong with Joe as he struggled through the June 2024 debate.
"Jill Biden is now out there finally admitting that she did NOT know what went wrong with Sleepy Joe," Donald wrote on Truth Social on May 29.
He continued by taking credit for Joe's disastrous appearance, arguing that his own performance may have pushed the then-president over the edge.
"In other words, as many have asked, did my strong performance in that debate cause him to plain and simple 'choke,' leading to his ignominious defeat, or were other reasons the cause?" Donald wrote.
The president then boasted: "Nobody else knows the answer to that, BUT I DO!!!"
Jill Biden Feared Joe Was Having a Stroke
Jill admitted she feared her husband was suffering a stroke during the disastrous June 2024 debate.
In her upcoming memoir, View From the East Wing, Jill recalled watching the debate unfold in horror as Joe repeatedly lost his train of thought and struggled to communicate.
"Is this a stroke?" she remembered thinking, according to the Daily Mail.
The former first lady said the situation became so alarming that she wondered whether her husband had somehow been drugged.
"I felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching. Has he been drugged?" she wrote.
As the debate continued, Jill worried millions of Americans would assume the performance reflected Joe's day-to-day condition.
"Oh God — will people watching assume this is how he is all the time?" she recalled thinking.
Joe Biden Admitted He 'Really F---ed Up'
Joe later confessed to his wife that he knew he 'f---ed up.'
According to Jill, Joe immediately recognized the damage he had done.
After leaving the debate stage, the then-president reportedly turned to his wife and asked: "I really f---ed up, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did," Jill whispered back.
Despite the disastrous showing, she publicly stood by her husband in the immediate aftermath and praised his performance while speaking to supporters.
"You did such a great job, you answered every question, you knew all the facts," she told Joe after the debate.
The event ultimately became a turning point in the 2024 race, fueling growing concerns about Joe's age and fitness for office.
Democrats Turn On Former First Lady
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Some Democrats have criticized the former first lady for revisiting the campaign's most damaging moment while promoting her memoir.
Joe dropped out of the presidential race less than a month after the debate and eventually endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Now, some Democrats are reportedly frustrated that Jill is revisiting the campaign's most painful moment while promoting her memoir ahead of crucial midterm elections.
One former Joe Biden administration official blasted the former first lady's comments.
"My reaction was basically: 'Welcome to the club,'" the ex-official said.
"Every person across America and in your administration wondered the same thing, and instead of acknowledging that, we were told for days to ignore it — that it was just a bad night, just an anomaly," they added.
