Joe Biden, 79, is the oldest president in U.S. history, but age is just a number, argued former President Trump on Monday.
According to the 45th president, “life begins at 80.”
Trump made the comments on his social media platform, Truth Social, noting that while the president “is one of the oldest 79s in History…he is not an old man.”
“There are many people in their 80s, and even 90s, that are as good and sharp as ever. Biden is not one of them, but it has little to do with his age,” Trump argued. “In actuality, life begins at 80!”
The comments come after a New York Times survey showed President Biden “hemorrhaging support” as 64 percent of Democratic voters say they prefer a new candidate in 2024.
For Mr. Biden, that bleak national outlook has pushed his job approval rating to a perilously low point. Republican opposition is predictably overwhelming, but more than two-thirds of independents also now disapprove of the president’s performance, and nearly half disapprove strongly. Among fellow Democrats his approval rating stands at 70 percent, a relatively low figure for a president, especially heading into the 2022 midterms when Mr. Biden needs to rally Democrats to the polls to maintain control of Congress.
In a sign of deep vulnerability and of unease among what is supposed to be his political base, only 26 percent of Democratic voters said the party should renominate him in 2024.
Mr. Biden has said repeatedly that he intends to run for re-election in 2024. At 79, he is already the oldest president in American history, and concerns about his age ranked at the top of the list for Democratic voters who want the party to find an alternative.
“I’m just going to come out and say it: I want younger blood,” said Nicole Farrier, a 38-year-old preschool teacher in East Tawas, a small town in northern Michigan. “I am so tired of all old people running our country. I don’t want someone knocking on death’s door.” (NYT)
While Trump is considerably sharper and more energetic than Biden, at 76, he too will face the same skepticism among voters about his age.
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