Failed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is raising the alarm about a candidate for the 2024 presidential election – and it’s not a Republican.
This past weekend, Clinton told prospective voters that they should consider the age that President Joe Biden will be before they head to the polls to vote for president next year.
At an event she was attending in Washington, D.C., Clinton told audience members of Biden:
“His age is an issue, and people have every right to consider it.”
Biden is 80 years old now, which already makes him the oldest president in the history of the U.S. At the end of his hypothetical second term in the White House, Biden would be 86 years old.
While Biden announced last month that he will be seeking re-election, many people have raised concerns about whether he’s fit to serve. He’s often stumbled while talking and seemingly loses his train of thought often, and he even has fallen and tripped multiple times.
Edward Luce, the editor of the Financial Times, was interviewing Clinton – who herself is 75 years old – and he brought up what he called a “heart-stopping” example of this. During the G7 summit held in Japan, Biden stumbled down stairs, which caused many people to hold their breath.
Clinton replied:
“It’s a concern for anyone. We’ve had presidents who had fallen before who were a lot younger, and people didn’t go into heart palpitations.”
Many of the president’s allies have naturally defended his age. Biden himself has said his own age doesn’t even “register” with him. He said recently of people’s concerns about his age:
“I respect them taking a hard look at it. I’d take a hard look at it, as well. I took a hard look at it before I decided to run, and I feel good. I feel excited about the prospects.”
Republicans have naturally used Biden’s age as a central point of their attacks against him and his campaign. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for the GOP nomination, labeled the re-election campaign Biden is waging as “elder abuse.”
After Clinton made her somewhat surprising comments about the leader of her party, Jason Miller – who serves as an adviser to former President Donald Trump – reacted by tweeting:
“Sounds like Crooked is warming up in the bullpen!”
Crooked was one of the mocking nicknames that Trump gave to Clinton during their election face-off back in 2016.
While her concern about Biden’s age was the headline-grabbing focal point of the interview she gave to Luce, Clinton also said that the president has a “good record” and that he deserves more credit for it. She said:
“He doesn’t get the credit yet that he deserves for what is happening in the country in terms of jobs and growth and planning for the future with CHIPS and other stuff. So, I obviously hope he stays very focused and able to compete in the election because I think he can be re-elected, and that’s what we should all hope for.”
