Presidential elections have a long history of age-related dynamics, but now Vice President Harris’ campaign is trying to turn the tide by challenging Trump’s age, using a tactic once used by former President Trump against President Biden.
But in a statement to Fox News Digital, the Trump campaign denied this strategy and defended the former president, saying “it’s not about age, it’s about ability.”
“And Kamala Harris has proven to be just as incompetent and ineffective as Joe Biden,” said Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. “Kamala has hidden from the press and not given interviews for more than 30 days because her advisers know she is incompetent to defend her failed record, while President Trump continues his relentless schedule of near-daily grilling from a hostile media, despite a never-ending legal witch hunt and assassination attempt.”
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Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)
Biden has faced growing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the 2024 presidential race over concerns about his age and mental health, but his campaign and White House have avoided discussing those issues with reporters. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, have made subtle criticisms of Trump’s age, who is 78.
At a campaign event in Newport Beach this month, Walz described Trump as “tired,” “low on energy” and “a guy who needs to get some rest over the weekend.”
The Harris campaign email also said Trump “spoke incoherently” during the press conference, and noted that “Trump appeared unconscious and attempted to read a paper for over 40 minutes.”
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shakes hands with former President Trump during a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024.
Tevi Troy, a political strategist and former White House staffer under George W. Bush, said presidential conflicts over age are nothing new, but “there are a lot of ideas on the left that no one can offend or criticize unless they’re Donald Trump,” he said.
This is considered discrimination and prejudice based on age, as several media outlets have called the criticism of Biden’s intellectual ability “ageism.”
“This is a juicy issue for the left, because Trump was very vocal in his criticism of Biden, even though he’s not that much younger than Biden,” Troye said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And then when Biden leaves, all of a sudden Trump is a lot older than Harris, and they’re happy to point that out.”
Mr. Troy, a presidential historian and author, recalled when John F. Kennedy, one of the youngest candidates ever to run for president, emphasized his youthful vigor and contrasted himself with Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the oldest presidents at the time. The contrast was a deliberate part of Kennedy’s campaign strategy.
In 1980, George H. W. Bush, who faced off against Ronald Reagan in the primary elections, repeatedly emphasized his own age (56, close to the average age of a president) and suggested that Reagan, more than a decade older, might be ineligible. The attacks on his age created tension between the Bush and Reagan campaigns, but Bush was elected vice president nonetheless.
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Vice President Kamala Harris appears onstage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin, File)
“But the attacks aren’t always successful,” Troy said.
In 1984, Walter Mondale tried to use Reagan’s age against him after Reagan performed poorly in the first debate, but Troy said Reagan got around this by reframing the issue.
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“Reagan made a great statement that he wasn’t going to use his opponent’s youth and inexperience for political purposes, which mitigated the issue to some extent,” Troy said. “Mondale said he knew at that moment he’d lost the election.”
Fox News Digital did not receive a response from the Harris campaign by publication deadline.
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