Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, has called President Trump a “bully,” before adding that her brother, the former Vice President and 2020 Democratic candidate, “has been standing up to bullies his entire life.”
Not that you would be able to tell today, but 76-year-old Biden spent much of his childhood struggling to overcome a debilitating stutter, a condition that affects roughly 3 million Americans and 5 to 10 percent of children at some point in their life. The speech impediment is a challenge the presidential hopeful has described as the “single most defining thing” in his life.
Speaking about overcoming his stutter as a child in the Los Angeles Times , Owens said that Biden’s ordeal has made him both more compassionate to others and better equipped to face being taunted by others, such as Donald Trump.
“Trump is a bully, and Joe has been standing up to bullies his entire life,” she said. “Joe’s stuttering, I think, is one of the principal reasons — a major, major, major reason — that he is the good and compassionate and kind man that he is.”
The President has called the current 2020 Democratic frontrunner a number of insults in recent months, including “dummy,” “loser” and saying that he’d rather run against Biden because “he’s the weakest mentally.”
Biden, in return, has labelled Trump an “existential threat to America.”
“This is a guy who does everything to separate and frighten people,” Biden said in a speech back in July.
The graph below, provided by Statista , shows the poll ratings of President Trump against the current top Democratic challengers in 2020.
How Biden got over his childhood stutter
Like 75 percent of children who stutter at some time in their lives, Biden recovered, using techniques put forward by teachers. One method, as an example, involved reciting poetry in front of a mirror. The purpose of the mirror in this case is to allow the individual to track (and control) any facial distortions that might contribute to the stuttering.
But this childhood struggle may have made the former Vice President a better politician, Biden himself has suggested in the past.
“It teaches you to be extemporaneous. It teaches you to memorize and anticipate,” Biden said in 2016, adding that it can help you focus on “what the other person is made of” and “what might be on their mind”.
“It’s an incredible asset in my business,” he said.
While Biden may have overcome his stutter, it hasn’t prevented the current president using it as a political point scoring card. In March, Trump hit out at Biden on Twitter , calling him “tongue tied”
“Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual!” Trump tweeted.
It may be this type of behavior that reminded Biden of childhood bullies in a July interview with CNN , during which he laughed off the idea that he would be intimidated by Trump. Speaking to Chris Cuomo, Biden described Trump as “the bully that I knew my whole life. He’s the bully that I’ve always stood up to. He’s the bully that used to make fun when I was a kid that I stutter, and I’d smack him in the mouth.”