Biden pretends to squish a bug on the table on The View after Whoopi Goldberg compared Trump to an insect following two assassination attempts

President Joe Biden apparent joke about smashing rival Donald Trump like a bug is drawing scrutiny given the tense political times amid threats.

Playing along during a taping of ABC's 'The View' Wednesday, Biden forcefully smacked his hand onto the table when comedian and co-host Whoppi Goldberg compared rival Donald Trump to an 'insect.'

'He just wouldn't - he was like a bug. He just kept being there., who's like a bug right there - bzzz,' the comedian said, simulating a bug harassing her forehead, during a discussion of Biden's decision not to seek reelection.

Biden underlined her routine, looking down at the table in front of him and smacking his hand, prompting hosts and members of the crowd laughed at the gesture.

It wasn't a laughing matter for some during a tense week where a man was charged in the second assassination attempt against Trump.

'In the wake of two attempted assassinations and reports that Iran is trying to kill Donald Trump, The View’s Whoopi Goldberg compares Trump to a bug. Joe Biden then responds by pretending to kill a bug on a table,' wrote Steve Guest, a former aide to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, posting the clip online, posting on X.

Trump's campaing also complained about a televised comment by Biden's Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who blasted Trump for telling a 'lie' and said 'Let's extinguish him for good.'

Earlier in the broadcast, Biden got a question about many of Trump's own incendiary comments, including referencing 'Second Amendment people' and calling for a televised military tribunal of Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Trump critic.

'Not a lot of social redeeming value there. He really does not believe in democracy and the guardrails that our system has set up for the abuse of power,' Biden said of Trump, on a week when he was in New York for the meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Biden claimed he could have beaten Trump himself, and cast aside polls that showed him in deep trouble in critical swing states.

'I never fully believed that assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance on my running again. I didn't sense that,' he said. 'We were always within in range of beating this guy.'

Trump himself faced denunciations after a speech last November where he referred to migrants as 'vermin.'

'We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,' Trump said.

Goldberg also spoke to her loyalty to Biden, even at a time when Democrats were lining up to push him out. 'You were my ride or die,' she said. 'Thank you for everything you have done in my lifetime.' 

Trump himself tore into the FBI during a speech Wednesday, a day after being briefed on an assassination threat coming from Iran. He said Biden should tell Iran's leaders he will blow