Presidential politics has a long history of age-related dynamics – and now, the VP Harris campaign is turning the tables by using tactics once employed by former President Trump against President Biden to challenge Trump’s age.
But in a statement to Fox News Digital, the Trump campaign dismissed the strategy and defended the former president, saying, “it’s not about age, it’s about competence.”
“And Kamala Harris has proven to be just as incompetent and ineffective as Joe Biden,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary said. “Kamala hides from the press and hasn’t sat down for an interview in more than 30 days because her advisers know she’s incapable of defending her failed record. On the other hand, President Trump takes tough questions from hostile media almost every day and continues a relentless schedule, despite endless legal witch-hunts and even an assassination attempt on his life.”
While Biden faced mounting pressure from Democrats to resign from the 2024 race due to concerns over his age and mental acuity, his campaign and the White House frequently avoided addressing these issues with reporters. Harris – and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz – have made subtle swipes at Trump, 78, for his age.
During a campaign event in Newport Beach this month, Walz described Trump as “tired,” and “low energy,” and the “guy that needs to get a little rest on the weekend.”
In Harris campaign emails, they also said Trump would “ramble incoherently” during press conferences and said “Trump tried to read some paper for more than 40 minutes, while giving a stream of not-much-consciousness.”
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The presidential beef over age isn’t new, according to political strategist and former George W. Bush White House official Tevi Troy. But “the left has all these ideas that you can’t offend, or criticize anybody, unless they’re Donald Trump,” he said.
“Ageism,” as several media outlets reportedly called the scrutiny of Biden’s mental acuity, is considered discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s age.
“It’s a useful issue for the left, because Trump was hammering it so hard against Biden, even though he’s not that much younger than Biden,” Troy told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And then the second Biden goes away, then suddenly Trump is considerably older than Harris, and they delight in pointing that out.”
Troy – also a presidential historian and author – recalled when John F. Kennedy, one of the youngest candidates to run for president, emphasized his youthful vigor and contrasted himself with Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the oldest presidents at the time. This contrast was a deliberate part of Kennedy’s campaign strategy.
In 1980, George H.W. Bush, running in the primaries against Ronald Reagan, repeatedly highlighted his own age – 56, which was closer to the median age for presidents – implying that Reagan, who was more than a decade older, might be less suitable. The attacks on his age led to tension between Bush and Reagan’s camps, yet Bush was still selected as vice president.
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“The attacks don’t always work, though,” Troy said.
In 1984, Walter Mondale tried to use Reagan’s age against him after a poor performance in the first debate. Troy said Reagan skillfully deflected this by reframing the issue.
“Reagan comes up with his great line about not exploiting for political purposes the youth and inexperience of his opponent, and that kind of diffused the issue,” Troy said. “Mondale said he knew at that moment that he lost the election.”
Fox News Digital did not hear back from the Harris campaign by publication deadline.
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