Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., recently expressed his displeasure with anyone pointing out President Biden’s old age.
a new Interview with PoliticoThe lawmaker – who is considered one of Biden’s top aides and most prominent foreign policy adviser – criticized people’s persistent questions about Biden’s age and mental fitness for office. He also lamented that for people this is a bigger issue than the threat posed to the United States by former President Trump, as he sees it.
“I’m a little tired of the constant focus on very minor mistakes by President Biden,” Politico’s Ryan Lizza said for the outlet’s “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast this week.
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Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., recently defended President Biden from attacks on his age and mental acuity. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Liza brought up the topic A recent report from the Wall Street Journal About Biden showing signs of decline behind closed doors.
Coons first addressed the story by telling Lizza that he had been interviewed for the story, though he was not quoted in the final article. He then criticized its framing, telling the reporter, “I thought it was a distorted and unbalanced story that tried to present the president as charming and competent in public but lackluster in private, and I thought that was unfair and inaccurate representation.”
Liza backtracked somewhat, saying: “I’ve known you for a long time, and I think you’re generally very intellectually honest. The president is not a young man. Look, I know you’re the co-chair of his campaign, and you’re very much encouraged to say things that will help him get re-elected. But clearly, there have been changes.”
Coons, wondering if the reporter was accusing him of misrepresenting the facts, responded, “Look, if you mean to say that what I said was dishonest —”
Liza interrupts him, telling him that he doesn’t have to do that, but that he wants to “go on about a lot of nonsense – the way everybody talks about it.”
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He continued to press Coons on the issue, saying, “On the one hand, Biden is not mentally challenged, as Trump believes. But on the other hand, he’s also older. My parents are in their 80s. They’re not what they were 20 years ago.”
Coons responded in detail, first saying that Biden, and Trump for that matter, make no more mistakes than other politicians their age. “Frankly, I think the key question is not whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden sometimes make mistakes about, you know, who’s the current president of France or who’s the current speaker of the House,” he said, adding, “Frankly, I think a lot of us who work in public office and do interviews all the time and travel regularly and work 14-hour days make similar mistakes.”
He then expressed his feelings openly when asked about Biden’s age and his suitability for the position.
US President Joe Biden, left, and US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, right, during the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 1, 2024, in Washington, DC, US. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I’m a little tired of the constant focus on minor mistakes by President Biden that I see made on a regular basis by other elected officials of a similar age.”
He then expressed his displeasure at the fact that Biden’s Age The issue has been raised more than Trump’s unique problems.
“I’ve been asked more times, ‘Is Joe Biden the same person he was when he was 60?’, than I have been asked, ‘Are you fearful for the future of our democracy, given what Donald Trump said today?'”
“And I just wish there was a little more balanced view on this,” Coons said, though he softened his stance by acknowledging, “Of course, Joe Biden is over 80 years old, and like any human being over 80, that means his energy is a little bit diminished.”
Coons also criticized the WSJ article in a brief interview. Fox News Channel “I think they got it wrong because they didn’t use quotes from people like us who work with President Biden, who know him, who have had the opportunity to talk with him closely in meetings at the White House or at events in public or in private, to confirm that he’s sharp, he’s committed, and he’s effective,” he said earlier this week.
