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Biden playing 'chess' while Trump playing 'hungry, hungry hippo': MSNBC panel

By Lauren Sforza - 6/16/24, 4:24 PM EDT

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An MSNBC host said President Biden has been playing "chess" while former President Trump is playing "hungry, hungry hippo."

MSNBC host Alicia Menendez, along with co-hosts Michael Steele and Symone Sanders-Townsend, praised Biden for his meetings with world leaders over the last week as he concluded the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy. Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen and Politico's Eugene Daniels also appeared on MSNBC's "The Weekend" on Saturday, where they both suggested that the White House wanted to show off Biden's leadership on the global scale.

“It’s amazing because you think about the fact that the president is playing chess, and the former president at best is playing, like, 'hungry, hungry hippo,'" Menendez said when talking about Biden's world trips.

Sanders-Townsend then suggested that Trump was playing "Uno," saying that someone keeps giving him "draw four." Her comments were met with laughter from the other co-hosts and guests.

"We keep talking about the split screens that have happened. Again, much for everyone that's saying, 'Oh, Joe Biden seems a little too old.' I don't know about you, but from France, doing all these things, coming back to America, going back out to the G7 in Italy. Now he's on his way to LA right now as we speak, to do another event," she said.

"And I don't know where Donald Trump has been. Oh, oh. Yes, I do know where he's been: railing, railing against the machine on a stage. The split screen here is something that should not be taken lightly," Sanders-Townsend added.

Biden traveled to Italy for the G7 summit just days after returning to the United States from a trip to Normandy, France, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He then attended a star-studded gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night that raised more than $30 million for his campaign, according to The Associated Press.

The Hill has reached out to the Biden and Trump campaigns for comment.

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