American political controversy
Joe Biden was 78&#;years and 2&#;months old when he took office, then the oldest president ever at inauguration (this record would be broken by Donald Trump in ), and was the first president of the United States to turn 80 while in office.[2][3] During the campaign for the United States presidential election, there was concern from the public and current President Donald Trump about his health and fitness for office. These concerns increased after a poor performance by Biden during a debate against Trump in the presidential election, which led a number of commentators and some Democratic lawmakers to call for Biden to drop out of the presidential race.[4] He later withdrew his candidacy while continuing to serve as president until the conclusion of his term on January 20, [5] When his term ended, Biden was 82&#;years and 2&#;months old, the oldest sitting president in United States history upon leaving office.[6][7]
Prior to the debate, in February , prosecutor Robert Hur, who conducted interviews totalling five hours with Biden as part of his investigation into a classified documents incident, described Biden's memory as having "significant limitations" in his investigative report.[8] At the time, liberal commentators and Democratic officials accused Hur of partisanship and including unnecessary detail.[9][10]
In February , after several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden underwent surgery to correct a leaking intracranial berry aneurysm.[11][12] While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism, a serious complication.[12] After a second aneurysm was surgically repaired in May,[12][13] Biden's recuperation kept him away from the Senate for seven months.[14]
In , when Biden was considering running for president, he consulted with friends, aides, and longtime supporters as to whether he was too old to seek the presidency.[15] By , The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, CNN, The Atlantic, the Associated Press, and Slate all published articles on Biden's age and fitness for office.[16] That year, in advance of the United States presidential election, many of his Democratic opponents used his age against Biden, who was 76 at the time. Biden supporters criticized this as ageist discrimination.[17] According to ABC News, Vladimir Putin and the Russian government spread disinformation about Biden's mental health during the presidential election,[18] and the Department of Homeland Security withheld publication of a bulletin warning law enforcement agencies about this campaign.[19] During and prior to his presidential campaign, Biden was followed by rumors that he had undergone plastic surgery to appear younger. Olivia Nuzzi reported in that Biden's alleged cosmetic procedures were "a minor obsession" of the Trump White House.[20]
In April , Joe Biden announced his entry into the Democratic Party presidential primaries to become the next president.[21] Throughout the primaries the other Democratic candidates, primary voters, and journalists alike raised concerns surrounding Biden's age and mental acuity, viewing the issues as a potential detriment to his electability.[22] At the time of his announcement, Joe Biden was 76 years of age. Some of the age-related concerns were easily dismissed as his main opponent, Bernie Sanders, was 77 years of age, making him older than Biden.[23] Despite that, Biden still faced age-based criticisms due to lackluster debate performances and frequent gaffes.[24][25] In September , Julian Castro criticized Biden during a debate for seeming to forget a position he said minutes previously.[26][27]
During the general election, Joe Biden faced the same criticisms and was consistently attacked by his opponent Donald Trump on the issue of age and mental fitness. Trump was 74 years of age at the time, which meant Biden was older than his opponent. During the campaign, Biden was criticized for limiting his public appearances due to the COVID pandemic, with Trump often times accusing him of "hiding in the basement".[28] Furthermore, Trump and his campaign would often react to Biden's gaffes by making false claims that he was suffering from dementia, and by calling him "Sleepy Joe" at rallies.[29][30]
During Joe Biden's presidency, his former opponent Donald Trump and right-wing media outlets continued to perpetuate claims of dementia and cognitive decline.[31][32][33] On a couple of occasions during the campaign Biden called himself a "bridge candidate", leading some to believe he would not seek a second term.[34] The Biden administration has routinely aimed to make light of the president's age by poking fun and joking about it, in a similar manner to Ronald Reagan. This approach has been met with both praise and mockery.[35][36][7] The Biden administration has also been criticized for allegedly gaslighting or harassing journalists who asked questions about Biden's health or age.[37]
On his 81st birthday, Biden posted an image of a birthday cake with dozens of candles, jokingly captioned to be for his "th birthday". The photo brought to the surface concerns among the public about Biden's age according to a majority of those polled at the time.[38][39]
In , a New York Times–Siena College poll found that 61% of Democratic voters wanted someone other than Biden to be the presidential nominee, citing his age as the main concern. Biden's aides dismissed age-related concerns as politically motivated attacks by Republicans.[40]James Carville,[41]Ezra Klein,[42] and The Economist called for Biden to not run again as early as [43] On July 28, , U.S. RepresentativeDean Phillips became the first incumbent Democratic member of Congress to say President Biden should not run for re-election and called for "generational change," pointing to Biden's age.[44] In a July television appearance, U.S. Representative Greg Murphy, who is also a medical doctor, accused Biden of having undergone extensive plastic surgery to appear younger.[45] According to Biden's annual physical examination, he is in good health for a man of his age. Biden is on medication for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (a form of irregular heartbeat), has an obstructive sleep apnea which he receives treatments through positive airway pressure, has a sensory peripheral neuropathy, and has a stiff gait due to spinal arthritis and the aftereffects of injury.[46]
According to a February poll, Biden's age and health were major or moderate concerns for 86% of voters generally,[48] up from 76% earlier in [49] According to another poll, most of those who voted for Biden in say they believe he is too old to be an effective president; The New York Times noted that these concerns "cut across generations, gender, race and education".[50]The Wall Street Journal has reported that, Biden's team has limited his schedule, personal interactions, media appearances, interviews, and unscripted exchanges in order to minimize concerns about his age and mental acuity.[51]Democrats were concerned about his ability to serve a second term, as he would be 86 years old by its end. Many of them were also concerned if he could beat Donald Trump a second time. After Trump's win in the presidential election, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, who was the first sitting Democrat in Congress to openly call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the United States presidential election after the first presidential debate, stated that “I only regret I didn’t do it earlier I believe that the only person in our caucus who doesn’t share some responsibility for the outcome is Dean Phillips, who came out early.”[52]
On October 27, , MinnesotaCongressmanDean Phillips formally launched his presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination. Phillips campaigned as a younger alternative to Biden, who would be a stronger opponent to Trump.[53][54] Phillips argued during his campaign that President Biden would be a weak general election candidate due to his age and low approval ratings.[55] On January 20, , Phillips told Axios that he thought it would be "impossible" for Biden to do the job for four more years, and that "At that stage of life, it is impossible ultimately to conduct, to prosecute the office of the American presidency in the way that this country in the world needs right now. That is an absolute truth."[56] On January 23, , Phillips won % of the vote in the New Hampshire primary.[57] In late January or early February , Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, received a call from a Democratic senator where the senator reportedly told him that, "You do realise, off the record, that Joe Biden is not going to be our nominee? I just was at a meeting with him with several other senators and he couldn’t even function. We can’t run him."[58][59] Phillips announced that he was dropping out on March 6, , having not earned a single delegate up to that point.[60] After having already suspended his campaign, Phillips won three delegates in the Ohio primary and won one delegate in the Nebraska primary.[61][62] Phillips was still on the ballot for the Democratic Party's primary election days in Ohio and Nebraska, where he gained his delegates by meeting the 15% threshold of votes needed to receive a delegate in a congressional district in Ohio's 2nd, 6th, and 14th districts[63] and by receiving the most votes of any candidate in Logan County, Nebraska.[64]
In January , Dr. Jay Olshansky gave Biden a close to 75% chance of living through a second term based on publicly available information about his health. This is about a 10% better survival chance when compared to other men his age.[65][66]
Upon concluding the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur suggested that Biden would be able to present himself to a jury as an "elderly man with poor memory" and wrote that his memory "appeared to have significant limitations".[67] White House lawyers disputed this characterization,[49] and Biden rejected the claim in a televised press conference on the day the special counsel's report was released; during the conference, he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as President of Mexico.[68] At the time, liberal commentators and Democratic officials accused Hur of partisanship and including unnecessary detail.[10][9]
The House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight Committee, both controlled by Republicans at that time, issued subpoenas for the full audio recordings of the interviews.[69] A transcript had already been released to the committees. The White House withheld the recordings, accusing the Republicans of wishing to distort the audio for political gain.[70] Ultimately, House Republicans passed a motion to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not complying with the congressional subpoenas to release the recordings. The Department of Justice concluded that Garland did not commit a crime and did not charge him.[71]
Further information: Joe Biden–Donald Trump presidential debate
On June 27, , Biden took part in the first presidential debate. The debate reinforced concerns about Biden's age, with Biden appearing confused and disoriented during its first half, giving meandering answers to questions, particularly on health policy.[72]The New York Times reporter Reid Epstein wondered whether voters would see him as someone physically able to run the country, even if they preferred his policies to Trump's.[73] Some Democrats were unsure whether he should continue his campaign.[74][75] Many officials and foreign leaders who encountered Biden in the months to year preceding the debate noticed he was increasingly frail, tired, meandering, and less lucid in his speech. In many parts of Europe, this led to concern about a second Trump presidency.[76] Biden declined to undergo a cognitive exam such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, saying that he has "a cognitive test every single day" in performing his presidential duties.[77] It later emerged that a neurologist specializing in Parkinson's disease had met this year with Physician to the President Kevin O'Connor; O'Connor and the White House both said Biden was not being treated for the disease and that other officials use O'Connor as their physician.[78][79][80]
On July 11, , the House of Representatives voted on a resolution that could have held Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress. The resolution would have imposed a fine of $10, per day on Garland for defying a congressional subpoena until he handed over audio of former special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden. Republicans argued that they needed the audio so they could listen to details like Biden’s tone or pauses in his answers.[81] This attempt fell short in a to vote by the House of Representatives and Garland was not found in inherent contempt, with four Republicans voting with all Democrats to oppose the measure.[82]
On July 17, , Biden tested positive for COVID He experienced mild symptoms, including a cough, runny nose, and "general malaise".[83] Images of him looking frail exiting from Air Force One on the way to isolation fuelled further speculation on Biden's health.[84]
This section is an excerpt from Withdrawal of Joe Biden from the United States presidential election.
On July 21, , Joe Biden, the incumbent president of the United States, announced his withdrawal from the United States presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. Harris subsequently received the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost the election to former President Donald Trump.
Biden, a Democrat, had announced that he would run for re-election in the presidential election on April 25, , with Harris again as his running mate. Biden had the support of almost all major donors in Democratic Party politics and went on to win an overwhelming majority of delegates in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, where he easily defeated challengers such as RepresentativeDean Phillips. He was already considered the presumptive nominee before the primaries were over. However, public concerns about Biden's age and health had emerged during his presidency, particularly about his fitness for the office and ability to carry out a second term.
These concerns increased after the first presidential debate, between Biden and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump on June 27, Biden's performance was widely criticized, with commentators noting he frequently lost his train of thought and gave meandering answers, had a faltering appearance, spoke with a hoarse voice, and failed to recall statistics or coherently express his opinion on several occasions. Biden subsequently faced calls to withdraw from the race from fellow Democrats and from the editorial boards of major news outlets. By July 19, , more than 30 senior Democrats had called for him to withdraw.
Biden repeatedly insisted for weeks after the debate that he would remain a candidate, despite numerous calls for him to r, on July 21, , he withdrew his candidacy via a signed letter posted on his personal Twitteraccount, writing that this was "in the best interest of my party and the country", while stating that he would continue serving as president until the conclusion of his was the first incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in to withdraw from a reelection race, the first since the 19th century to withdraw after serving only one term,[a]and the only major party presumptive nominee to withdraw after already winning the primaries.[95]An article in July in The Conversation by finance professor Brandon Cline showed that around half of the largest public companies in the U.S. force their CEOs to retire when they turn 65 or so because of declining performance, with nearly 70% of S&P companies having mandatory retirement ages for their boards in the mids. Cline noted that a similar rule would have made both Trump and Biden ineligible to run in and argues that the evidence supporting a mandatory retirement age is strong. He cited studies showing that CEOs over 65 hired and fired fewer people, made fewer deals, were less active overall and that age-related changes impair judgment.[96]