As they prepare to dump him: Questions over Biden’s age are getting sharper

Questions over Biden’s age are getting sharper

by Niall Stanage - 09/06/23 6:00 AM ET

The issue of President Biden’s age isn’t going anywhere.

Concerns around the oldest president in history are growing sharper, if anything, as he begins his reelection campaign in earnest.

A NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll released Tuesday found 80 percent of respondents saying they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about Biden’s ability to serve effectively during a possible second term, given his age.

If the president wins reelection, he will be 82 at the time of his second inauguration and 86 at the conclusion of his term. The next-oldest president at the end of his term was President Reagan, who left office in January 1989 aged 77.

Tuesday’s poll showed even 60 percent of Democrats expressing concern about Biden’s capacity to serve a second term.

Those findings were broadly in line with an Associated Press/NORC poll released last week, which found 77 percent of adults believe Biden is too old to effectively serve a second term; 69 percent of Democrats shared that view.

“The problem with Biden being 80 is that he is acting more and more like a senior citizen without all of his faculties,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus who specializes in political communications.

Biden’s general demeanor, Berkovitz added, “reinforces that he is an old 80-year-old, not a spry, competent 80-year-old.”

The polling numbers on age will worry the president’s allies given the range of other problems that he faces.

Biden’s approval ratings are mediocre, and the public has so far proven resistant to giving him credit for his economic record, despite the White House’s best efforts.

Biden’s economic management has legitimate bright spots, including historically low levels of unemployment. But the scars inflicted when inflation reached its highest level since the early 1980s last year have not been erased, even though the pace of price rises has slowed markedly since then.

Meanwhile, the age issue will be eagerly amplified by political opponents and their media allies if Biden makes any slip-ups during a taxing election campaign.

The template has already been established in the extensive coverage given to Biden’s fall at a U.S. Air Force Academy graduation event in Colorado in early June.

Verbal misfires — as when he twice in 24 hours referred to the war “in Iraq,” when he meant “in Ukraine” earlier this year — deepen the perception problem.

A new book about Biden by Franklin Foer, “The Last Politician,” has generated its own share of headlines about the president’s age. The book depicts Biden complaining about his staff cleaning up a comment he made during a speech in Warsaw, Poland, last year.

Biden had implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to be removed from power. His aides later clarified that the United States was not calling for regime change in Moscow.

“Rather than owning his failure, he fumed to his friends about how he was treated like a toddler. Was John Kennedy ever babied like that?” Foer writes.

At Tuesday’s White House media briefing, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy noted again that Biden was the oldest president in history and asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “Why does White House staff treat him like a baby?”

Jean-Pierre responded, “No one treats the president of the United States, the commander in chief, like a baby. That’s a ridiculous claim.”

The press secretary went on to assert that, in relation to the war in Ukraine, Biden’s age was actually an asset.

“The value of his experience and wisdom resulted in rallying the free world against authoritarianism,” she said.

This is an argument made in broad terms by Biden himself, and by outside allies.

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg told this column: “What we’ve learned with President Biden is that age is both an asset and a liability. The liability is obvious, but with age comes wisdom and experience. It has allowed Biden to be a very successful president in a very rancorous and challenging time.”

Rosenberg further asserted that Biden’s experience was partly responsible for him “being able to pass ten years’ worth of legislation in just two years” before Republicans took control of the House this January.

Concerns about Biden’s age could also become at least a degree less damaging if former President Trump becomes the GOP nominee, as looks likely for the moment.

Trump, 77, is just three years younger than Biden.

Most polls, including the NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ and Associated Press/NORC surveys, show fewer voters to be as concerned with age in relation to Trump, however.

Still, the former president’s extreme divisiveness and high unfavorably ratings could give Biden an advantage he would not have against a younger, less polarizing opponent.

Some independent observers also contend that the media focus on Biden’s age is excessive.

Danielle Vinson, a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University, argued: “There has been a lot of partisan coverage in conservative media that focuses on every gaffe that he makes. But, quite honestly, every president makes gaffes, and some of them are quite young when they do so. George W. Bush had an interesting relationship with the English language, for example.”

Though that may be true, the numbers in recent polls tell their own story.

Biden’s best hope is to try to show his vigor, and to hope concerns about his age will be supplanted by other topics.

But if his age becomes a disqualifying factor for even a sliver of voters, it could spell deep trouble for his reelection hopes.

Democrats have to dump Joe Biden as their 2024 nominee — prez, policies wildly unpopular with the people

By

Michael Goodwin

Published Sep. 5, 2023, 10:48 p.m. ET

The calendar says summer is ending, vacations are over and it’s time to get back to work. If you’re a Democrat, it’s also time to get serious about dumping Joe Biden as your 2024 nominee.

It’s been eons since the president has enjoyed even decent poll numbers, but amid a glut of bad ones, last week’s Wall Street Journal survey stands out.

With only minor exceptions, it shows Biden and his policies, especially on inflation and the economy, are wildly unpopular and that the vast majority of all registered voters do not want him to seek re-election.

Instead, they want him to turn out the lights and take a permanent vacation.

Meanwhile, a Journal survey of just Republican voters paints such a rosy picture of Donald Trump’s support that he appears to be on an unstoppable march to the nomination.

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The former president now holds a 46-point lead over runner-up Ron DeSantis, with the Florida governor’s backing at just 13%, continuing its months-long ­decline.

But it is among the larger group of registered voters from both parties and independents where the Journal poll has the worst possible news for Biden and Democrats.

The top finding is that an astounding 73% of all respondents believe Biden, at 80 and in obvious decline, is too old to run for a second term.

Remarkably, that number ­includes two-thirds of Dems, the Journal says.

The contrast between the leading contenders for the Oval Office is striking.

Less than three years after Biden took the White House from Trump, the winner is in something of a free fall and the loser is on a roll.

I think these are legitimate concerns especially what happened yesterday.

Ok DAMNIT!!! It’s one thing for this senile walking corpse to forget EVERY DAMN THING he’s supposed to say or read “REPEAT LINE” half the time he’s reading a teleprompter… But when he WALKS OUT HALF WAY THROUGH A MEDAL OF HONOR CEREMONY?!? WTAF?!?😤 Get this PILE OF 💩in a damn nursing home where he belongs!!! FFS!!! Stop protecting him and admit he has dementia!!!


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Why Trump must drop out

by James D. Zirin, opinion contributor - 09/05/23 3:30 PM ET

As a lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, I never thought being indicted was a laughing matter. Cohn enjoyed being indicted (he was three times; beat the rap three times), and Donald Trump may enjoy it just as much. Trump has been indicted four times and stands charged with 91 felony counts, 44 federal and 47 state charges. He is a defendant in a civil suit brought by New York’s attorney general charging him with fraudulent overstatement of his assets. There will also be a separate phase in the defamation action brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a department store dressing room many years ago (a jury already returned a verdict for Carroll in a prior incarnation of the case).

In addition, there is the serious case, inevitably to be brought sometime soon, that Trump is disqualified from public office by reason of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prevents a former office who has participated in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States from ever again holding public office. Asa Hutchinson or Chris Christie, who have both said they believe Trump disqualified, would have standing to sue. Or the case might arise if election officials in various states refuse to put Trump on the ballot — then Trump, as the aggrieved party, would have standing to sue, and the case would be on a bullet train for the Supreme Court.

Trump’s PAC has already spent an estimated $40 million in legal fees, and the shindig has just begun. His only apparent defense to all his legal troubles is that he might just be elected the 47th president.

A new Wall Street Journal poll encourages him: Trump has the support of nearly 60 percent of GOP primary voters, up 11 points since April, with no one else even close.

Among GOP primary voters, getting indicted would appear to be a badge of honor. Asked about the indictments of Trump, more than 60 percent of Republican primary voters said each was politically motivated and without merit. Some 78 percent said Trump’s actions after the 2020 election were legitimate efforts to ensure an accurate vote, while 16 percent said Trump had illegally tried to block Congress from certifying an election he had lost. 48 percent said the indictments made them more likely to vote for Trump in 2024. There was apparently no polling on the Mar-a-Lago documents case, which lacks the political flavor of the other indictments.

In the general election, Biden and Trump are locked in a dead heat, 46 percent to 46 percent, in a two-person rematch. A significant share of those polled — some 17 percent — were undecided.

The polling has caused Washington Post columnist Max Boot to tweet: “What is wrong with people?”

Political pundit Ron Brownstein offers this explanation: “Reason why Trump/Biden are so close is polarization & ‘calcification’ leaves few voters open to switching. But there’s more to it. The big factors so far shaping 24 are offsetting each other: inflation & age are hurting Biden while abortion & democracy hurt Trump. Sums to stalemate.”

Trump must not run for office. If he knows what is good for him, he would be well advised to withdraw from the race. Given the gravity and scope of his crimes, the duration of his illegal activity and his abuse of our highest office, justice requires that if he is convicted he receive a prison sentence equal to or greater than those received by lead January 6 defendants. If he withdraws from the race, however, and is remorseful, a judge, seeking to temper justice with mercy, may well not send him to prison out of “the high degree of respect” due the high office he once held.

Biden may also withdraw, particularly if Trump is out, and he has plenty of time to do it. Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection on March 31, 1968. Polls show that most Democrats have serious misgivings about Biden’s age and apparent frailty. Few have any appetite for Kamala Harris, whom many view as a cypher.

I don’t think the people talking about the 14th amendment as citing the reason trump can’t run for president know what the fk they are talking about!

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“insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment.

Under a legal theory that’s gaining traction among Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans, that seldom-used clause arguably disqualifies Trump from ever holding office again due to his attempts to undermine the 2020 election and his role in stoking the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

One strategy is for politicians, advocacy groups or even ordinary voters to file lawsuits seeking judicial declarations that Trump is ineligible to run. This strategy is already in its infant stages, with two obscure plaintiffs filing lawsuits in New Hampshire and Florida in recent days.

The second, would be for one or more states to embrace the theory outright and simply refuse to list Trump on their ballots.

Lawsuits will becoming in 2024.

Dude not to place for this lol