OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:25 PM – Tuesday, February 27, 2024
In an attempt to turn the tables on his political rival, President Joe Biden deliberately experimented with a fresh line of attack against his former and future presidential opponent, Donald Trump, on Monday by highlighting Trump’s age.
81-year-old Biden responded to critics who said that his advanced age would be a disadvantage in the upcoming race by telling NBC host Seth Meyers, “You got to take a look at the other guy,” alluding to 77-year-old Trump.
“He’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” Biden said, referencing a weekend CPAC event when Trump critics claimed that the former president called his wife “Mercedes.”
However, Trump’s campaign team spoke with reporters and maintained that Trump was referencing Mercedes Schlapp. Schlapp is a political commentator and the wife of CPAC organizer chair and former White House staffer Matt Schlapp, whom he also mentioned a second time later in the speech.
“Fake news at its finest,” Mercedes Schlapp said, calling out left-wing news outlets that claimed Trump had called his wife by the wrong name.
In the “Late Night” interview with Seth Meyers on NBC, Biden stated that voters have to consider “how old (a candidate’s) ideas are,” rather than merely a candidate’s age.
“Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to take us back,” Biden said of Trump. “He wants to take us back on Roe v. Wade, he wants to take us back on a whole range of issues that, are…50, 60 years, they’ve been solid American positions,” Biden said.
Meyers’ pre-recorded interview took place soon after the White House revealed that Biden would be visiting the Southern border on Thursday. Meanwhile, Trump is also scheduled to travel to Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been the center of a recent standoff between the federal and state governments regarding illegal border crossings.
Days after Trump advanced further in his quest for the party’s presidential nominee by winning the South Carolina Republican primary, Biden’s remarks regarding the GOP candidate’s age may signal a significant change in the president’s messaging approach. Trump has previously stated that Biden’s age is not the main reason that he should not be reelected, but rather, that Biden is crooked, mentally incompetent, and possibly plagued by early-onset dementia.
Additionally, Trump has publicly said that he knows and has known many intelligent and quick-witted people who are still going strong in their 80s and 90s. However, Biden is not one of them.
According to a White House advisory, Biden will “discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement” at meetings with local elected officials, law enforcement, and U.S. Border Patrol officers while in Texas.
On Tuesday at the White House, Biden will also have a high-stakes meeting with key congressional leaders to “discuss the border, prevent a government shutdown, and approve extra funds for Ukraine,” an insider told the press.
During his conversation with Meyers, Biden regularly criticized Trump, bringing up the former president only minutes after Meyers had questioned him about infrastructure.
“The last guy had…he had infrastructure week… every week,” Biden said. “But… we actually got it done.”
“I mean, what are we talking about here? What in God’s name? The idea that… the president of the United States is inviting Vladimir Putin to invade … Western countries? It’s bizarre, absolutely bizarre. And it’s totally against our interest,” Biden continued.
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