President Joe Biden rebuffed concerns about his age, telling voters “take a look at the other guy,” referring to former President Donald Trump, his likely opponent in November’s general election.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” that aired early Tuesday morning, Biden addressed two key issues plaguing his reelection bid – his age and the Israel-Hamas war.
“Take a look at the other guy, he’s about as old as I am,” said Biden, 81, who is four years older than Trump, when asked how he plans to address voters’ concerns.
“It’s about how old your ideas are,” Biden continued. “Look. I mean, this is a guy who wants to take us back. 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.”
Concerns about Biden’s age reached a fever pitch earlier this month after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report into the president’s mishandling of classified documents provided damning comments about his mental acuity.
Biden’s appearance on the late-night show comes just hours before voters in Michigan are slated to begin casting their votes in the state’s Democratic primary. However, Biden is also facing a protest vote in Michigan over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Democratic leaders in the state, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), have endorsed the Listen to Michigan campaign effort which encourages voters to mark themselves as “uncommitted” instead of voting for Biden.
The protest vote has the potential to undermine Biden’s reelection bid in the state that has proven to be pivotal in the last two presidential elections. Biden defeated Trump in the Great Lakes State by 154,000 votes in 2020, however, in the 2016 election, then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lost to Trump by less than 11,000 votes.
Biden’s response to Israel’s war with Hamas has revealed deep fissures within the Democratic party, and has seen the president bleed support with Arab and Muslim voters, key demographics in Michigan that could decide the state’s outcome.
When asked by Meyers about the potential for a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas, Biden said that there is a “path forward,” on an agreement, emphasizing the need for the hostages being held by Hamas to be released.
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“Ramadan’s coming up and there has been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” said Biden.
“I think if we get that – that temporary ceasefire, we’re going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution immediately, but a process to get to a two-state solution,” Biden continued.
