Trump criticizes 2020 Democratic candidates

President Trump on Thursday dismissed the threats posed by former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and others as they seek the Democratic nomination to challenge him in 2020.

Trump called Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News, where the two men engaged in a roughly 45-minute conversation railing against the president’s detractors and floating allegations about improper behavior by federal law enforcement.

{mosads}At the conclusion of the discussion, Hannity asked Trump to respond to the names of a handful of Democratic candidates with a couple words that came to mind.

Trump shared a rare public critique of Harris, telling Hannity that “she’s got a little bit of a nasty wit, but that might be it.”

Of Biden, he said he’s landed on the derisive nickname “Sleepy Joe,” suggesting that the former vice president lacks the energy to handle the presidency.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who along with Biden is polling at or near the top of most Democratic primary polls, has “a lot of energy,” Trump said.

“But he’s got misguided energy, and he’s done very poorly in terms of the Senate,” Trump said.

Trump cast doubt on the chances of O’Rourke’s candidacy, calling it a “fluke” and arguing the former Texas congressman is “fading very fast.”

“And Mayor Pete is not going to make it,” Trump said of South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has surged in recent polling. “I’m rooting for him, but he’s not going to make it.”

The president has publicly expressed confidence about his abilities to defeat any candidate that emerges from a field of roughly 20 candidates vying for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Recent polling of hypothetical 2020 matchups have shown Biden and Sanders leading or running neck-and-neck with Trump.