Donald Trump appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds during a speech at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
The former president — who kept the crowd waiting for more than two hours from the scheduled time of his speech on Saturday — was praising the state of Texas before he suddenly fell silent at the lectern.
Supporters of President Joe Biden were quick to pounce on the moment given that Mr Trump, 77, frequently attacks the president, 81, for his age, claiming he is not mentally competent and is too old for office.
“The Texas spirit of proud independence was forged by cowboys and cattle hands, ranchers and rangers, oil workers, soldiers and brave, brave, brave, pioneers,” Mr Trump told the crowd of gun owners.
“Many came here with nothing but the boots or their feet, the clothes on their back, and the gun in their saddle. Together they helped make America into the single greatest nation in the history of the world.”
At that moment, Mr Trump suddenly froze as music played. At one point in the lengthy pause, the former president shook his head.
“But now we are a nation in decline,” Mr Trump then continued. “We are a failing nation. We are a nation that has the highest inflation in 58 years, where banks are collapsing, and interest rates are skyrocketing.”
The X account @BidensWins posted a clip of the moment, tweeting: “BREAKING: Donald Trump just glitched out and froze at his rally tonight. He is clearly unfit for office. Retweet so every American knows Trump is senile.”
Other social media commenters piled on, with one posting: “He pulled a Mitch?” in reference to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s two very public moments in which he froze in front of cameras.
Supporters of Mr Trump angrily leaped to defend him, claiming he was simply “listening” at that time.
Some said they believed the teleprompter had gone down and he was shaking his head in frustration while others suggested he was pausing for effect or for the music that comes in as he nears the end of his speeches.
In another part of the speech at the NRA convention, Mr Trump stopped to swat at a fly that was buzzing around him.
The apparent freezing episode marks the second time in as many days that the Biden campaign has seized on Mr Trump’s antics on stage to suggest that he isn’t fit for office.
The Democratic president’s team also went after the former president as “feeble” for a moment during a speech at Minnesota’s Lincoln-Reagan Annual Dinner on Saturday in which he leaned on the lectern too hard and “nearly falls down”.
Video from the event shared by Biden-Harris HQ on X showed Mr Trump grabbing the lectern during his remarks on stage, after nearly toppling it over.
“A feeble Trump nearly falls down on stage after he leans on his podium too hard and then goes on an angry rant calling his event workers ‘crappy,’” the caption reads.
The video shows the former president lurch to the side as the lectern shifts beneath him. He then launches into a tirade about the stage setup.
“You know this is the worst platform, who put this stage up?” he quipped, to raucous laughter from the crowd. “The fricking place is falling down.”
“I notice it keeps tilting to the left,” Mr Trump also joked, “Like too many other things!”
