Donald Trump ‘needed to be talked out’ of giving Joe Biden a deeply offensive nickname

Donald Trump’s campaign has been forced to deny reports the former President wanted to call Joe Biden a “retard” at a campaign rally earlier this year.

Staff had to talk Mr Trump out of nicknaming his successor in the White House “Retarded Joe Biden” in June. The Atlantic Magazine published claims – citing three campaign sources – that in June, Mr Trump had said on his campaign plane: “The guy’s a retard. He’s retarded. I think that’s what I’ll start calling him.”

Staff reportedly had to plead with him not to use the slur, warning him it would antagonise moderate voters.

A Trump Campaign Spokesman said the nickname was “never discussed and this is materially false.”

Last night, Mr Trump suffered a bizarre onstage meltdown as his big campaign rally was plagued by technical problems.

Both Mr Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris gave rival rallies on Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Both events attracted huge crowds each in the crucial battleground state – which could decide the result of Tuesday’s election.

The polls could not be closer – with Mr Trump and Ms Harris effectively neck and neck in all seven key battleground states – Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

And both campaigns are pouring all their resources into these states in the final four days before polling day.

WAP rapper Cardi B endorsed Ms Harris at her Milwaukee rally on Friday – branding Donald Trump a “bully” and saying “I’m not giving [him] another chance.”

“I can’t stand a bully,” she told the 12,000-strong crowd. “But just like Kamala, I always stand up to one.”

She added: “I wasn’t going to vote this year. But Kamala joining the race changed my mind completely. She’s passionate, she’s compassionate, she shows empathy and most of all, she’s not delusional.

“People like Donald Trump don’t believe that women deserve rights – and when those rights are taken away they are nowhere to be found.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump spoke to a near-capacity crowd at a huge basketball arena on the other side of town.

But the event was dogged by sound problems – with chants of “turn it up” and “fix the mic” repeatedly interrupting his speech.

Eventually, Mr Trump realised they were complaining they couldn’t hear him and became apparently furious, ripping the mic from its holder on the podium and ranting about his technical team.

“You’ve gotta be kidding. Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?” He said.

Mr Trump later launched into a bizarre mime, pretending to lean close to where the microphone should have been, with his mouth wide open.

“And then everyone says, is there something wrong with his back?” He complained to the crowd. “What the hell is wrong with him?

“They’re saying he’s cognitively impaired and physically impaired, because I have people who are stupid back there.”

Elsewhere in his lengthy, rambling address, Mr Trump variously complained he’d delivered two, three and four speeches that day – in fact, he’d delivered two.

He branded Ms Harris a “dummy”, and claimed: “She’ll get overwhelmed, melt down and then millions of people will die.”

And continuing his attacks on migrants, he said: “The day I take the oath of office, the migrant invasion ends and the restoration of our country begins.”

“We know who Donald Trump is,” Ms Harris shot back at her rally across town.

“This is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, he is consumed with grievance and the man is out for unchecked power.”