Trump Names Biden Almost 900 Times This Year Even Though His Ailing Rival Has Retired From Public Life

US President Donald Trump has named Joe Biden almost 900 times this year, blaming his predecessor for inflation, immigration, and foreign crises, even as the 83-year-old former president, who is being treated for Stage 4 cancer, has all but vanished from public life.

The tally comes from a Reuters review of Trump's speeches, interviews, and Truth Social posts since 1 January. It found he called Biden out by name at least 890 times across nearly 200 events and about 190 online posts, averaging about three a day.

A Three-Times-A-Day Habit

Trump has invoked Biden most often when the subject turns to the economy, with at least 210 mentions. Immigration accounted for 168 and foreign policy and national security for 138, according to the Reuters count. He blamed Biden for everything from high prices to munitions shortages.

The mentions surfaced in unlikely places. Trump raised Biden's name at First Lady Melania Trump's film premiere, the National Prayer Breakfast, and the White House Easter Egg Roll. His single-day record of 16 mentions came at July's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Turkey.

Meghan Hays, a former Biden White House official, told Reuters the pattern looked less like governing and more like fixation. 'Nine hundred mentions in less than a year isn't governing, it's an obsession,' she said, arguing Trump was more focused on the past than on the price of petrol and groceries.

The Blame Voters Aren't Buying

Here is the catch. Twenty months after Biden left office, most Americans are not pinning today's costs on him. A Politico/Public First survey from 13 to 15 September found that 43% held Trump mostly or fully responsible for the economy, compared with 28% who blamed Biden more.

A separate NBC News poll released on 20 September put Trump's approval at 41%, a second-term low, with 55% saying his policies had hurt the economy, up from 48% in March. A Harvard CAPS/Harris survey earlier this year found 62% blame the current economy on Trump rather than his predecessor.

Prices Keep Climbing on His Watch

The deflection lands against an awkward backdrop. Petrol has surged since Trump launched a war against Iran in late February, a conflict that has choked global oil supply. American Automobile Association (AAA) data showed the US national average for regular fuel at about $4.48 (£3.34) a gallon, up roughly 50% since the war began.

Trump has brushed off the concern, calling affordability worries a 'hoax'. Last week he wrote on Truth Social that price rises across America 'were caused by Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, not by TRUMP'. Polls and prices point the other way.

A Strategy With an Expiry Date

The messaging carries risks six weeks out from the 3 November midterms, with Republicans defending a slim House majority. Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 50% to 45% in NBC's polling.

Even some Republicans doubt the approach. 'Politics is always about the future and never about the past, so blaming your predecessor does not work,' strategist Charlie Black told Reuters. 'Especially for an incumbent. He must defend his own record to help his party.'

For voters watching prices at the pump and the checkout, that record, not the man who left office 20 months ago, is what greets them weekly.