Joe Biden is ready, willing and able to serve a second term as president, his wife insisted on Friday, despite the 81-year-old Biden becoming paralyzed during Independence Day celebrations and wandering away from leaders at the G7 summit in Italy this week.
“Like in 2016, we cannot wake up on November 6th and be terrified of the future that lies before us,” Jill Biden told seniors at a pep rally in Reno, Nevada.
“This election is a test of character for the person who leads our country,” the first lady said.
An estimated 600,000 seniors live in Nevada, nearly a third of the state’s 1.9 million eligible voters.
Recent polls have shown former President Donald Trump, 78, leading Joe Biden, who won the state in 2020, by five points.
The first lady, who returned from Europe earlier this week to watch the end of her son Hunter Biden’s trial on firearms possession charges, kicked off her “Biden-Harris Seniors” stop-off tour on Thursday with events in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota.
The campaign is hoping to draw older voters to the polls through bingo and pickleball events, rallies and phone banks to support its candidate, who will be 86 at the end of his two consecutive terms.
“Joe Biden is a healthy and wise 81-year-old who is ready and willing to work every day to make our future better,” Jill Biden, 73, told the Reno audience, repeating remarks from a similar speech in Duluth.
She said: “Joe is one of the most effective presidents we’ve had in our lifetime, despite his age – and perhaps because of it.”
Jill Biden was introduced to the Nevada crowd by actress and activist Jane Fonda, 86, who shouted that presumptive Republican nominee Trump was “a convicted felon who doesn’t even qualify for a security clearance. We’ll never get him again.”
Fonda, who has been criticized by many for his visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and his support for Communist forces, said he was “scared” when he arrived by plane in Nevada’s second-largest city.
“The house is exposed to the relentless heat of the sun,” she declared.
“There’s no protection for the trees. I don’t see any solar panels on any of the houses. … People who work outside will die because temperatures will exceed 110 degrees. [degrees]. “
Fonda then claimed that Trump “invited all the executives of the major oil companies, sat them down, looked them straight in the eye and said, ‘If you give me a billion dollars, I’ll repeal the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and all the other environmental regulations that you don’t like.'”
The actress, who rose to fame in the prehistoric parody film “Barbarella,” did not offer any evidence to support her claims.
While the Reno audience seemed enthusiastic about Fonda and Biden’s remarks, not all groups of seniors supported the reelection effort.
“While we respect Dr. Jill Biden’s support for her husband, we are concerned that President Joe Biden is constantly being placed in high-pressure public situations that highlight his own weaknesses. We believe this is one step away from elder abuse,” said Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Adult American Citizens Association (AMAC), a conservative seniors group.
“We firmly believe that effective leadership is determined not by age, but by intellect, experience and judgment,” Weber said. “It is critical for any leader, but particularly the president of the United States, to have the mental acumen necessary to navigate the complexities and demands of the job.”
