Right-wing Twitter Starts #SlurOfTheUnion To Insult Biden Ahead Of State Of The Union But Left-wing Twitter Is Now Using It To Insult Trump

As President Joe Biden prepares for his State of the Union speech tonight, Twitter is ablaze with the hashtag "#SlurOfTheUnion," which began trending early in the day among right-wing users mocking the President’s speech patterns before being largely taken over by left-leaning users memeing the speech patterns of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

What time is the senile old man pretending to be President giving the #SlurOfTheUnion speech?
What a national disgrace

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) March 1, 2022

#SlurOfTheUnion is trending because dim idiots trying to exploit a man's speech disorder are exactly as pathetic and desperate as you'd think. pic.twitter.com/Zr7ZeDKF2N

— elisha Stands With Ukraine shipman🔞🏳️‍🌈🥃 (@NIMHrat) March 1, 2022

I’m sure “Dr” Jill, aka Alice cooper, is pumping up old sleepy head with Namenda. This is going to be such an embarrassment 🤡🤡🤡🤡 #SlurOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/mcamyVtNEI

— WackieWackie (@Jackie_zombie) March 1, 2022

During the 2020 presidential campaign and throughout the first year of his presidency, Biden has continually come under attack for his age and occasional difficulty speaking in public, both in right-wing memes and media, but also those of left-leaning sides.

Some Republicans, and even Democrats, have called the President senile and accused him of being in mental decline despite statements from his administration refuting these claims. In the past, Joe Biden has shared publicly about his lifelong stutter and the measures he took as a young man to improve his speech, such as reciting poetry in front of the mirror.

Corn Pop 🌽 will be doing the #SlurOfTheUnion speech for Joe. pic.twitter.com/bNEkchnnMN

— Der Schniefmeister (@zniffo) March 1, 2022

If you are not supporting President Biden then GTFO of America and move to Russia, you don't deserve to live in this nation. #SlurOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/4aC4dDH2lS

— Frazzled Global Citizen (@FrazzledCitizen) March 1, 2022

But while #SlurOfTheUnion may have begun with many right-leaning accounts deriding what they predicted to be Biden’s “slurred” performance this evening, by midday, the slur in question was not Biden’s but Trump’s. Donald Trump’s slurring of words and mispronunciations were, at certain points in his tenure, also cited as evidence of cognitive decline or drug use, though similar statements were made by his administration as well.

Remember that time Donald Trump's mouth was so dry from mass amounts of Adderall that he called it the "United Shayes." Hahahaha. That's what I call a #SlurOfTheUnion.

— Kyla In The Burgh 🇺🇦 🌻 (@KylaInTheBurgh) March 1, 2022

#SlurOfTheUnion is and always will be this pig ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/5qlTgulYx0

— Pax Thoreau (@TheColdHardPax) March 1, 2022

#sluroftheunion is trending to distract from this. #SlutofthePutin pic.twitter.com/xZ00eOioKb

— Mir 🌻 Standing with Ukraine 🌻 (@Mir_SCS) March 1, 2022

Accusing a politician of having a disability and then making memes and tweets about it now seems like a standard part of American political discourse, despite some users online calling out this trend as disrespectful to people with actual disabilities and as unhealthy for a functioning democracy. Regardless, this latest meme war, in which Democrats commandeered a right-wing hashtag as the two sides attempt to out-meme each other, is only the most recent in what will surely be many more battles to come.