MSNBC host Rachel Maddow suggested President Biden is not old enough for the presidency, citing the fact that “he rides a bike” as evidence.
On Thursday’s MSNBC show, hosts called out Biden’s critics after the 81-year-old referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “President of Mexico,” upsetting two foreign leaders. accused of “age discrimination”.
Co-host Chris Hayes added: “If someone says, ‘You’re too left,’ you can move back to the center, but if someone tells you you’re too old, you can’t do anything.”
Then Maddow called out, “He’s riding a bike.”
The president is known to enjoy cycling on his $599 Trek FX hybrid bike. But one sunny day in Delaware in 2022, Biden fell off his bike. And social media users jumped at the opportunity to create a slew of memes purporting to be from the president.
One Twitter user at the time slammed the logo of LifeAlert, an emergency warning system for the elderly, and its famous catchphrase, “I fell and I can’t get up!” — over a photo of Biden lying on the sidewalk.
Ahead of the November 2024 election, the age of presidential candidates has become a hot topic.
Republican and Democratic voters have expressed concerns in surveys that Mr. Biden, who will be 86 at the end of his expected second term, lacks the mental stamina to carry out his duties.
Biden, who has served in Washington for half a century, has often joked about his advanced age and sought to let Americans know he is aware of their concerns about remaining in the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, the president has also stumbled several times on the confines of the presidential plane’s stairs, and his team hired a physical therapist to improve his balance and avoid potentially disastrous falls.
Additionally, he has made several recent statements, including when he told Democratic Party donors that he had spoken to the late former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, four years after the European politician’s death. People are making this mistake in public.
And earlier this week, Biden confused incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron with former leader Francois Mitterand, who died nearly 30 years ago.
Following Biden’s latest gaffe on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kaline said: Jean-Pierre told reporters: “When it comes to the name and what he was trying to say, a lot of people, elected officials, a lot of people, you know, sometimes they get it wrong. ?” he told reporters.
Jean-Pierre cited several examples of other government leaders confusing names when referring to different things, including when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Iran instead of Israel on Sunday. I mentioned.
“It happens to all of us, and it’s common.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 52, was also criticized by former CNN anchor Don Lemon for being “past her prime.”
Since then, the White House strongman has been bashed as a “hypocrite” for making “ageist” comments about the president’s rivals.
On an episode of the daytime talk show “The View,” host Sunny Hostin pointed to Haley’s campaign strategy in New Hampshire last month when she said: However, once you reach a certain age, you will see a decline. That’s a fact. “
“She’s an ageist, but she got mad when someone talked about her age. Hypocrite!” Hostin said at the time, “When Don Lemon said she was older and past her prime and left, ” he said.
