TOLEDO, Ohio _ Democrats piled on Donald Trump Monday over his assertion that the week-old offensive in Mosul, Iraq, is already a failure, largely because the U.S. and its allies telegraphed plans to dislodge the Islamic State from its stronghold in Iraq months ahead of time.
Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning in Toledo for Hillary Clinton, said Trump's assertion that the operation was timed to help her win the election is so offensive, he's inclined to give the Republican presidential nominee a beating.
"Can you imagine any president of the United States, any one that we've ever had ... saying that when a coalition has been planning for months to take out ISIL in the town of Mosul in Iraq, saying that they're now attacking Mosul because of Hillary, to make her look strong?" Biden said.
"I'm not going to say any more," he said, as the crowd shouted encouragement to say more. "I'll get myself in trouble and say something like I'd like to take him behind the gym if I were in high school.
"All kidding aside, wouldn't you?" he said.
The Obama administration and the Clinton campaign have jumped on Trump's critique of the Mosul offensive in unison.
"Why did we have to tell them we're going in? Why didn't we go in and then tell the public a week later, 'Congratulations, we just got the leadership. We didn't lose many people,'" Trump said Monday in Florida. "Our leadership is stupid. These are stupid people."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the least U.S. troops can expect from a would-be commander in chief is "unconditional and unwavering support" during a military operation.
As for whether the Mosul effort is a failure, he said, "It's far too early to reach that kind of conclusion."
In New Hampshire, Clinton also chided Trump.
The crowd in Manchester booed when she mentioned his claim that the effort "is already, and I quote, a total disaster' and that our country is, quote, looking so dumb.' ... . He's basically declaring defeat before the battle has even started. He's proving to the world what it means to have an unqualified commander in chief. It's not only wrong, it's dangerous and it needs to be repudiated on Nov. 8."
In last Wednesday's debate with Clinton, Trump asserted that the assault on Mosul was timed to help Clinton win the election. "The only reason they did it is because she's running for the office of president and they want to look tough. They want to look good," he said.
Trump also has castigated the administration for giving up the element of surprise.
Military leaders say they wanted to give noncombatants the chance to flee and, in any case, wouldn't have been able to keep preparations secret for a siege of a city of 1.5 million. Trump says the openness only let Islamic State leaders slip out of the city and gave the enemy more time to prepare.
He kept up the attack on Sunday via his favorite outlet, Twitter.
In Toledo, Biden tweaked Trump for his Twitter habits.
"Can you imagine any president that's ever lived, assuming they had the technology, getting up at 3 in the morning and tweeting nasty things about a beauty queen who gained weight? Can you imagine?" he said.
And he lamented that "Trump has so dumbed down this election" by keeping the news media distracted. "Are you going to cover Hillary's explanation how she pays for college, or are you going to cover Trump saying that because he's famous he can go out and grope women?"
As for the threat to take Trump behind the gym, Biden averred that he was just kidding _ kind of.
"Can you imagine a guy in a locker room talking that way, and your sister's out there watching the game? Not a joke," he said, referring to Trump shrugging off a 2005 conversation caught on an open microphone in which he boasted of kissing women uninvited and grabbing their genitals.
"If I were in high school _ I want to make it clear. I understand what assault is. I'm not in high school," Biden said, and the crowd laughed. "I used to have a temper in high school."
