What Biden quitting means for Trump: 'Now he's the old man in this election’
Republicans have used Joe Biden's age against him, but now he's stepped down, Trump is the 'old man' of the 2024 election.
In brief...
- With Biden stepping down and Trump potentially running at 78, age concerns now challenge Republicans, undermining their previous attacks on Biden’s age and capability.
- Trump remains critical of Biden, labeling his presidency as disastrous. His choice of JD Vance as running mate brings a more extreme "MAGA" stance, lacking ticket balance.
- Harris, potentially facing Trump, could leverage a balanced ticket to her advantage.
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One thing's for sure – Donald Trump and the Republican Party won't want to bring up the argument about age again on the campaign trail.
At 78 years old, he could be facing Kamala Harris come the election on 5 November, when she'll be 60.
"Suddenly, you have taken the Democrats old guy out, and you have left the Republicans old guy in," Emily Maitlis says on Sunday's 'emergency' episode of The News Agents.
"So all those questions about mental incapacity, about age, about people falling asleep in meetings about them not appealing to young people are suddenly staring Republicans in the face right now."
It's been a key line of attack for Republicans since the debate between Trump and Joe Biden on 27 June, made all the easier by Biden's poor performance at the podium.
But now, the tables have turned.
"If Trump wins in November, the oldest person ever to be elected president of the United States of America," adds Jon Sopel. "He is the old man."
And America’s potential oldest elected president didn’t hold back on his thoughts about Joe Biden following his announcement he would be stepping down as the official Democratic Party nominee.
"The worst president, by far, in the history of our nation," said Trump, writing on his own Truth Social platform.
After Donald Trump was shot during the Republican convention, there was speculation it might change his confrontational approach to politics. This doesn’t seem to have happened.
"Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was," Trump added, writing on his own social network, Truth Social.
"We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly."
He also attacked "all those around him" for not telling the truth about Biden’s mental capabilities.
There will be questions raised about the support key Democrats, and the White House, gave Biden in the weeks following the June debate, in an attempt to quell any concerns over Biden's capability.
The News Agents believe this will be the Republicans’ key line of attack against the Democrats going forward.
But there could also be worries around Trump picking JD Vance as his running mate, with The News Agents describing him as a "MAGA Mini-Me", and offering no diversity of opinion in the potential Republican president, and vice president.
"Vance is, in some ways, even more MAGA than Donald Trump on the border, on abortion rights, on isolationism, on economic populism," Jon adds.
"So Donald Trump has not balanced his ticket in the way that he did in 2016, when he asked Mike Pence to be his running mate."
This presents an opportunity for Kamala Harris, if she becomes the Democratic Party's nominee, to balance her ticket in her choice for her running-mate, with Jon Sopel saying he's sure it will be a white man from the "industrial northeast" of America.
Harris has been endorsed by Biden and Bill and Hillary Clinton, with Trump telling CNN he believes beating Harris will be "easier" than Biden, but The News Agents don't believe that's the case.
"We should make no mistake that Trump and those around Trump, wanted to face Biden in November, because they had concluded that he was finished," Lewis Goodall adds.
One thing's for sure – Trump won't face such an easy opponent at the next presidential debate when 10 September rolls around.
Biden was 78 years old when he started his presidency in 2021, Trump 70 when he entered the White House in 2017.
Obama was 47, George W Bush 54, and Bill Clinton 46.
John F. Kennedy was the youngest, becoming president at 43 in 1961.