Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki attempted to defend President Joe Biden against concerns about his age by pointing to his slightly younger predecessor’s age.
Democrats continue to express worries about the president’s health and mental acuity, even as Biden repeatedly insists that he intends to run for reelection in 2024. Biden, who is already the oldest president in American history, will turn 80 years old on Nov. 20. By Inauguration Day 2025, he’ll be 82.
“Just throwing out there. For everyone who is arguing the reason @POTUS shouldn’t run again is because of his age…you know Donald Trump is 76 right?” Psaki wrote on Twitter Monday.
When Trump took office in 2017 at the age of 70, he was the oldest person ever to become president. He was not, however, the oldest to ever hold the office. That honor belonged to Ronald Reagan, who left the presidency at the age of 77, a little over two months younger than Biden was on Jan. 20, 2021.
Just throwing out there. For everyone who is arguing the reason @POTUS shouldn’t run again is because of his age…you know Donald Trump is 76 right?
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) November 14, 2022
A New York Times/Siena poll found in July that 64% of Democratic voters would prefer a different candidate to run in 2024. A plurality of those voters, 33%, cited his age as their main reasoning, and 32% listed his job performance. (RELATED: CNN Agrees With Tucker, Airs Major Concerns About Biden)
In October, the president told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that questions about his age are “totally legitimate,” but that he has a lot of energy and passion for his job which keeps him going.
“I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about anyone’s age, including mine. I think that’s totally legitimate. But I think the best way to make the judgement is to, you know, watch me,” he told Capehart. “Am I slowing up? Am I – don’t have the same pace? It could be, I am a great respecter of fate.”
I could get a disease tomorrow, drop dead tomorrow,” Biden continued. “But in terms of my energy level, in terms of how much I am able to do, I think people should look and say, ‘Does he still have the same passion for what he is doing?’ If they think I do and I can do it, then it is fine. If not, they should vote against me.”