OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden apparently does not like to talk about his age and he made certain one of his associates knew about it. The oldest president in the history of the United States, who is 80 years old, snapped at an acquaintance this year when the topic of his age was mentioned, Politico reported.
“You think I don’t know how f**king old I am?” he reportedly said to one ally, Politico reported.
“I just hope and pray that when I am in my 80s, I still have that kind of energy,” Democrat California Rep. Mike Levin said to Politico.
But polls have continued to show that he president’s age and health are concerns for voters, which he acknowledged in an interview with MSNBC. He appeared on the MSNBC show, aptly named “The Sunday Show” where he was asked to convince host Jonathan Capehart’s aunt Gloria to vote for him considering his age.
“Well, I think Aunt Gloria should take a look, I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about, anyone’s age, including mine. I think that’s totally legitimate,” the president said.
“But the best way to make a judgment is to, you know, watch me. You know, am I slowing up? Do I not have the same pace? Or, you know, and that old joke, you know – everybody talks about the new, you know, 70s, 50s, you know all that stuff,” he said.
“I’m a big believer in fate. I could get a disease tomorrow, I could, you know, drop dead tomorrow,” he said.
He then said people who do not think he has the mental ability to stay as president should “vote against me” before walking that back.
“’If they think I do, then it is fine. If not, they should vote against me- not against me, they should encourage me not to go, but that is not how I feel,” he said.
“But Jonathan, right now, knock on wood, I do not want to jinx myself, I am in good health. All of my- everything physically about me is still functioning well, so you know, and mentally too, so,” he said.
“I can’t even say the age I’m gonna be! I can’t even get it out of my mouth!” he said.
"I think it's a legitimate thing to be concerned about anyone's age, including mine," says Biden.
"Watch me. You know, am I slowing up? Am I don't have the same pace?…I could get a disease tomorrow, I could, you know, drop dead tomorrow." pic.twitter.com/o7jDVE5WVV
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 23, 2022
Biden has often said he works with Republicans and has prided himself on being bipartisan.
In the interview, when asked how he would “protect women” if Republicans win back the House and Senate his answer was not cooperative.
The president vowed to “veto anything they do.”
“You unveiled a new attack line earlier today. You dropped it here just a moment ago. But the full line was Mega MAGA trickle down. Surely you consider your student loan forgiveness program to be an antidote to that. But here’s a problem, I think, for you and Democrats. Despite all the good economic news, low unemployment, record job creation, wage increases, Social Security, cost of living, adjustment to 8.7%, the highest in 40 years. And yet poll after poll shows that Americans, the American people trust Republicans on the economy and think that Republicans should control Congress. How do you how do you break through that?” Capehart said.
“First of all, that I’m not sure about the polls because, you know, the way people conduct polls today, it’s hard. 90% of it, as you get on a telephone where you have to call seven times to get somebody to answer the phone. Number one. Number two, a lot of what we’ve done and we passed has not kicked in yet. For example, you know, we have all this money to rebuild highways, bridges, internet, etc., but it’s going to take time. It’s not all happen overnight. It’s not like we passed a law and all of a sudden the highways and bridges are all functioning. It’s not like we’re in a position where we’re saying no senior, which we do, is going to have to pay more than $2,000 a year for the drug costs. Even so, some are paying 13, 14, 15 with helping their families because the cancer drugs and the like, it hadn’t kicked in and didn’t kick in until next year. So a lot of what we’ve done, people are are hurting. They’re hurting because, you know, when you when you take away that margin for people sitting around the kitchen table and they’re paying, you know, three times as much or two times or one and a half times as much for the gasoline it matters. I grew up in a family where when that occurred, it was a discussion at home. And so I think this is a process of people making sure that what we say we’re doing really is going to happen. And they and so that’s why these last several weeks I’m doing is saying, here’s what we’re for. Here’s a third for and make a choice and vote. And I think people are going to show up and vote like they did last time,” the president said.
“One of the things you said you’re for, Mr. President, is codifying Roe. You said that, you’ve said you need 51 or 53 seats in order, in the Senate in order to make that happen. But what happens if Republicans take control of Congress? How are you going to protect women?” the host said.
“Veto anything they do. They have to get, for them to make Dobbs wo–, for them to outlaw Roe, outlaw the right of a woman, to make a choice with her doctor, to not make exceptions for rape and incest and etc., and pass it out of the Congress to make it the law of the land. The President has to sign it. I’ll veto it,” the president said.