Sleepy Joe is a nickname describing Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, coined and used by those who oppose his presidency, which became an Internet meme. The nickname was originally coined in 2019 by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.
On April 25, 2019, United States president Donald Trump tweeted the following: "Welcome to the race, Sleepy Joe". Biden responded by calling Trump a "clown".[1] During the 2020 presidential election, including the final campaign debates, Trump generally mocked his opponent Biden repeatedly, calling him "Sleepy Joe".[2]
In June 2020, reports surfaced that Trump had recently asked advisors whether he should stick with his current nickname for Biden, "Sleepy Joe", or try to come up with another nickname, such as "Swampy Joe" or "Creepy Joe". It has been noted that Trump is not convinced that "Sleepy Joe" is particularly "dangerous", and some of his advisers agree and urge him to stop using the nickname. In one tweet, Trump stated another pejorative nickname of Biden: "Corrupt Joe".[3]
Gibril Sadeq Alagbari, an associate professor at Qassim University, reports that Trump has resorted to personal defamation by calling Biden "Sleepy Joe" in tweets. Trump has criticized Biden, saying he "has been in politics for 40 years and done nothing", describing him as "politically weak" and claiming Trump has done more in 3.5 years for black people than Biden did in 43 years. Reinforcing his war against "radical-left democrats", Trump seized on popular calls to "protect the police" and falsely attributed them to "Sleepy Joe". He also claimed that Biden "doesn't know where he is or what he's doing", "he's asleep",[4] and that Biden held a rally that "hardly anyone showed up for".[5]