Just one week after his official 2020 reelection campaign kickoff, President Trump is clearly in campaign mode and ready to ramp up his needling of current Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden.

In a wide-ranging interview Trump did with The Hill on Monday, the President suggested that there may be a more concerning reason former President Obama is not endorsing Biden that goes beyond merely being respectful to the other candidates during the primary process:

“How he doesn’t get President Obama to endorse him — there has to be some reason why he’s not endorsing him,” Trump said outside the Oval Office. “He was the vice president. They seem to have gotten along. And how President Obama’s not endorsing him is rather a big secret,” Trump mused, adding, “Then he goes and lies and said, ‘I asked the president not to endorse me.’ Give me a break.”

Trump argued Biden made the assertion because “he’s embarrassed by the fact that Obama’s not endorsing him, so he goes out and says, ‘I asked President Obama not to endorse me.’ … So it could be that President Obama knows something, but there is something going on in that brain of his.”

Pressed on what exactly is going on in Biden’s brain, Trump said, “I think he’s off. He’s different. We’ve all known him a long time. I’ve seen him for a long time. Frankly, he looks different, he sounds different, and he thinks different. Other than that, I hope he does very well.”

Watch this segment of the interview below:

#EXCLUSIVE: President Trump on Joe Biden: "He's a different person than he was 4 or 5 years ago, and he wasn't so hot 4 or 5 years ago. How he doesn’t get President Obama to endorse him? There has to be some reason why he’s not endorsing him."@HillTVLive https://t.co/j3Z8cJ55FE pic.twitter.com/tZa3Aj1dL6

— The Hill (@thehill) June 24, 2019

Biden frequently talks about Obama on the campaign trail, and not just in terms of what he says they accomplished, but also in terms of the personal friendship they developed over the 8 years they were in DC. It’s a calculated strategy on his part, reminding Democratic voters he was the VP and friend to a man who is still very much loved in his party.

Related to that, political observers say that Biden’s time as Obama’s vice president is something the black community remembers fondly and takes into account.

But some commentators – both liberal and conservative – have suggested Biden also brings up Obama to insinuate to Democratic voters, without evidence, that if Obama “could” endorse anyone prior to the start of the primaries, it would be him.

This tweet was viewed as a prime example of that:

Happy #BestFriendsDay to my friend, @BarackObama. pic.twitter.com/JTd1t7NtyL

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 9, 2019

As Fox News notes, Trump has been trying to get under Biden’s skin since he officially announced his candidacy back in April:

Trump and Biden repeatedly have traded blows since the former vice president entered the 2020 race, with the president frequently dismissing his potential opponent as “sleepy”.

Trump even said he would prefer to run against Biden rather than face another campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who has continued to launch criticisms at Clinton even after he defeated her in the 2016 presidential race, recently offered rare praise of the former secretary of state while once again labeling Biden as “sleepy.”

“I actually think that Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious,” Trump said during an interview that aired this past Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.” “[Biden’s] sleepy. She was not sleepy.”

Biden is set to take the debate stage in Miami Thursday night. Should be interesting to see what he has to say about Trump’s comments – and what Trump will say in turn if he decides to live-tweet the debates.

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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–