this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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politics

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[–] CollisionResistance@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (4 children)
[–] PilferJynx@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Trump is definitely losing his ability to manage his lies/grifts. Biden is losing his syntactic abilities. Both options aren't good, but one is waaay more damaging to the American way.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Biden isn't losing his syntactic abilities, he's a man with a stutter and a history of verbal gaffes, who has lived a long time and met a lot of people, and was interviewed during a time of extreme stress (right at the start of the Israel/Palestine conflict), after having likely gotten minimal sleep for days.

I hate that this narrative of "he's too old" is making the rounds again, when if you had a camera following you around 24 hours a day, it would almost certainly capture you saying something stupid all the time.

Watch footage of his recent speeches without cherry-picking the ones with gaffes. He's been perfectly fine and eloquent most of the time.

[–] ringwraithfish@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They're both too old. I understand why Biden is running, DNC shit the bed and didn't offer any viable alternatives. I wish we would see a shift across the entire political spectrum to younger representatives.

[–] Ioughttamow@kbin.social -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ageism baby. We should judge our candidates on their own merits

[–] ringwraithfish@startrek.website 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's not ageism to say that young people need their fair representation in politics. The median age of America is about 40. The median age of Congress is about 60. There is a very real concern that our leaders may not truly grasp or fully understand the issues of the younger generation.

Not to mention the risk of death and health related issues is convergent with age. It can't be avoided, no matter how much people want to pretend it shouldn't be considered. 70+ is pushing it, 80+ is well beyond average male life expectancy. To hide behind "that's ageism" when anyone brings it up as valid concerns is to ignore the facts.

[–] Ioughttamow@kbin.social -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but telling older Americans they simply can’t be politically involved anymore isnt the play. Younger Americans certainly need greater representation, but that doesn’t mean denying representation from older ones. Less for sure, but not none

[–] ringwraithfish@startrek.website 4 points 9 months ago

They can be involved. No one is taking their rights to vote away. You can't run for president until 35. You can't be a congressman until 25. No one says it denies younger folks their representation. Let older folks vote for who best represents their ideology and values, but it's time for upper limits for very obvious reasons.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 0 points 9 months ago

Ok, their merits are both have been mistaking people for others from their past. They're too fucking old and its affecting their mental acuity. That's the merits.

[–] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

A million times worse, but doesn't mean we can't discuss Biden aging as well. He's been great, don't get me wrong but....yeah. There has been concerning shit like this and at his age...shit can go downhill FUCKING FAST. I'm still voting for him because the other option is basically suicide for the country but...its really time for us to move on from letting the elderly run this god damn country.

Do we want a president who gets as bad as Feinstein did? Literally not even remembering she had been hospitalized?

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 5 points 9 months ago

They're practically the same age, could have been in high school together. (3y, 8mo apart in age)

[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago

Upvote 😠

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Reminder, trump is only four years younger.

Trump was the oldest president, until Biden

Neither should be considered fit for president at that age.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 2 points 9 months ago

Not just that, he found a dementia test tough, has mixed up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, and claimed he beat Barrack Obama in an election. He's just as bad as anything presented here, but the end conclusion should be "they're both too damn old". Like if we have to vote for a flavor of dementia ok, but surely there are better options.

[–] ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

It's a mark against the US' political landscape that 81 year old Biden and 77 year old Trump are the frontrunners for the presidency, so far as I'm concerned. At that age, any person in a leadership position should be stepping aside to, at most, act as counsel for their successors, or at least simply get out of the way if they cannot meaningfully help.

It speaks against the individuals and the organizations' sense of responsibility to not recognize the limits of themselves or those they prop up. You can forgive a child trying to act older than they are, but an adult acting like they're still in their prime when they're not is simply sad, and it looks bad when others enable and encourage them despite the risks to themselves and others.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 7 points 9 months ago

I will vote for a vegetable if the alternative is Trump. It's troubling, but Trump is rock bottom.

[–] xedrak@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

If Biden gets re-elected and croaks during his next term, the secret service should just pull a “Weekend at Bernie’s” for the remainder of his term. Now that would be good television!

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Trump is right behind him in age. Attacking Biden's age is like attacking Trump.

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Okay. They're both too old.

[–] Zorque@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Only for people who don't pay dues to the Donald Trump fan club. Which is pretty much just prospective Biden voters.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think Trump supporters have a monopoly on being critical of Biden...

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No. I was just talking about the age. Lame to criticize someone for being old when your own candidate is just as old.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Again, you're assuming the people criticising Biden for being old are Trump supporters.

The blind polarisation in American politics is getting really bad.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah, but the entire post is about the age.

[–] Rhaedas@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Age is a factor, but the real problem is voters being given only two choices, or even only one in the case of an incumbent without primary competition in the party. I would not want someone shut out simply because they got past an arbitrary mark of time, as there are plenty of sharp and even progressive old people, as well as some dumb regressive young ones. It's how good of a pick they are to lead the country, and right now we really don't get that choice in a vote. So until we do, we have to pick the less destructive version, which is the obvious Biden who is questionable in many respects and yet still far more aware of reality. And not an established criminal, fascist, and racist.

[–] HWK_290@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

I get it. The gaffs are worrisome, although I do wonder how much more serious they same simply bc we are being directed to tune into them by the media. GWB said some, to put it bluntly, stone cold idiotic shit and yet he was portrayed as a loveable buffoon for most of his presidency (and calls around his fitness for office focused more on the fact that he was, by all accounts, just not that smart, target than his mental acuity)

That being said, to give up the incumbency advantage seems shortsighted with Trump likely to be in the ballot. That and the relentless desire to redirect focus away from biden's many accomplishments, which--let's face it-- were conceived and largely executed by subject matter experts, not the man himself. And, as it should be (looking at the stable genius counting elephants in the corner)

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Biden twice referred to dead European leaders – François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl – when talking about recent conversations with his global counterparts, making for awkward moments that highlight the foremost concern about the president among his core supporters.

White House officials and Biden’s personal lawyer forcefully rejected what they said were inappropriate and incorrect statements about his memory, noting the interviews took place in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel and suggesting his attention was elsewhere.

But during a briefing on Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sought to play down the slip-ups, citing recent examples of other public figures – including House Speaker Mike Johnson and television host Sean Hannity – mixing up names.

Both times, Biden was telling a story he relays frequently about his first international summit as president, when he claims fellow leaders raised concerns with him about the January 6 insurrection attempt.

They are also seized on by Nikki Haley, the former Republican South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations who has made the age of Biden and former President Donald Trump central to her White House push.

During that physical exam on February 16, 2023, White House Physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote, “The President remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.”


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