Although Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley proposed for obligatory mental ability testing for political candidates over 75, First Lady Jill Biden dismissed concerns about her husband’s mental clarity.
“Ridiculous,” she said CNN in a Monday interview. Joe Biden’s recent surprise visit to Kiev showed his effervescence, she said.
“How many 30-year-olds can get on the train to Poland?” she questioned rhetorically. “Go nine more hours, go to Ukraine, meet President Zelensky? “Look at the man,” she said of her 80-year-old spouse. “Watch him. Watch what he does daily.”
“We would never even discuss something like that,” Jill Biden said when asked if her husband would ever undergo a mental competency test.
After Haley, 51, remarked earlier this month that the US needed to “get past the outdated ideas and faded names of the past” ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the first lady made her remarks. Her position was perceived as a jab at the Biden administration and Donald Trump, who would be 78 by the next election.
The winner of another Biden-Trump race would be the oldest president ever.
Sanders, 81, told CBS News last month that Haley’s suggestion is “ageist.”
We oppose racism. Fighting sexism. Fighting homophobia. Sanders suggested combatting ageism. “Trust me, look at folks and say, ‘You know, this person is competent. Incompetent. Many 40-year-olds are incompetent.”
Biden has not announced his 2024 re-election plans. He would be 82 on inauguration day if he won a second term in Washington.
