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With Joe Biden announcing Sunday that he would not seek reelection, Donald Trump will head into November as the oldest presidential nominee in US history.
And, since the GOP has made Biden’s age a key theme of the campaign, it seems fair to now ask the same questions of the former president.
That is especially true in light of Trump’s frequent gaffes.
He often gives rambling speeches, garbles words, and confuses people.
For example, he referred to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as “Nikki Haley,” the former South Carolina governor whom he was facing in the GOP primary.
More recently, Trump confused the name of his former White House physician, current Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), whom he called “Ronny Johnson.”
Obviously, Democrats did/could not fully focus on the former president’s age and mental acuity as long as Biden, who would have been 82 years old on Inauguration Day, was in the race.
Now, however, especially in light of the GOP’s attacks on the president, all that is fair game.
Both men were born in the 1940s, went to elementary school in the 1950s, and sat out the Vietnam War because of health issues. Biden, who also received student deferments, had asthma, and Trump received a medical exemption for bone spurs in his foot.
If he were to win a second term, fewer than 2 percent of American males would be older than him.
And, if he serves out the term, he would be older than Biden is now.
This opens up Trump to a whole new line of criticism, especially if the president comes out and says that this job is a bit too demanding for someone in his 80s. It seems unlikely that Biden would do so, but it would be hilarious nonetheless, and payback for all those Republicans who have said he is too frail to serve.
In addition, GOP lawmakers are claiming that, if Biden is too old to run for a second term, then he is also too old to serve now.
That is a disingenuous argument.
First of all, Biden did not reference his age in the statement announcing that he would no longer seek the Democratic nomination. He merely said that he wants to focus on being president instead of campaigning.
More importantly, even if this were the reason (and it may well be in light of polls showing that Americans believe Biden is too old), there is a big difference between no longer being able to do a job today and no longer being able to do the same job four years from now.
That being said, it seems unlikely that Republicans will still want to have that conversation now.
However, it stands to reason that his advanced age could become a problem for Trump. According to a recent poll, 60 percent of Americans believe he is too old to serve a second term.
It also stands to reason that Democrats will now gleefully play the “age card.”
After all, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed, is 18 years younger.
