‘My memory is fine’: Joe Biden rages as age question resurfaces

Joe Biden became noticeably agitated during a tense appearance at the White House on Thursday evening, as journalists repeatedly pressed him on his age and cognitive capabilities as a potential president.

Biden confidently expressed that he is fully aware of what he is doing and asserts that he is the most competent individual in the nation to serve as the President of the United States and to accomplish the mission he commenced. Biden is currently 81 years old.

For a while now, Biden has been aware, as have his closest advisors and a significant number of his party members, that one of the biggest hurdles for his re-election campaign against probable opponent Donald Trump is the widespread perception among American voters that he is too old to serve as president.

The worries arose once more on Thursday when special counselor Robert Hur referred to Biden as an older individual with a bad recollection. Despite this, he made the decision to not press charges regarding the president's mishandling of classified information.

Biden was particularly distressed and concerned for his campaign when Hur pointed out specific examples during their interview last year where the president was unable to recall the exact timeline of his term as vice president under Barack Obama, as well as the timing of his son Beau's passing due to brain cancer.

Biden expressed his anger towards Hur on Thursday by questioning his audacity to bring up the topic. He made it clear that he didn't require any reminder about Hur's passing.

However, the remarks about Biden's deteriorating mental abilities in Hur's analysis were not made in isolation.

At the beginning of this week, Biden made a mistake by confusing François Mitterrand, the previous president of France who ruled from 1981 to 1995, with Emmanuel Macron, the current president of France.

He mistakenly mentioned Helmut Kohl, the deceased former German chancellor who was in office from 1982 to 1998 instead of Angela Merkel, who served as the more recent past chancellor.

Biden once again made an error while speaking about foreign leaders on Thursday night. This time, he was discussing the crisis in the Middle East and referred to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the president of Mexico instead of Egypt.

Biden firmly rejected any insinuations that he was experiencing cognitive issues. He maintained that his memory was intact.

The closest supporters of the president hurried to support him, pointing out that his impressive list of legislative achievements and his skill at building stronger relationships with leading allies from all corners of the globe in the last three years showed that he still had what it takes to lead from the White House.

On Thursday night, Jaime Harrison, who leads the Democratic National Committee, quickly came to Joe Biden's aid. Harrison wrote a message on the social media platform X. In the message, Harrison referred to some of Biden's speeches that he gave earlier this year in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Additionally, Harrison mentioned the various discussions that he had with Biden on Air Force One. They talked about many different subjects, from politics to family matters.

This leader is truly impressive with his sharp, empathetic, and powerful approach! According to Harrison, he has accomplished more to assist American citizens than any previous president during my lifetime.

The Democrats are bringing attention to the fact that Trump, who is now 77 years old, has also experienced periods of mental setbacks. This includes an incident where he referred to Nikki Haley, his competition in the White House, as Nancy Pelosi, the past speaker of the House.

On top of that, Trump has made some serious errors, and he is currently dealing with 91 criminal accusations. The charges include improperly handling classified government information, his frequent outbursts on social media, and increasingly disturbing comments that promise political revenge against those who oppose him.

Kevin Munoz, who represents Biden's re-election campaign, recently wrote a post on social media urging people to remember that Donald Trump has indicated that he would act like a dictator if he wins another term. He has also promised to implement a nationwide ban on abortion and to remove the Affordable Care Act. This message was included in a fundraising effort.

When Hur made his comments, some members of the Democratic Party responded by drawing a comparison to James Comey's actions in October 2016. At that time, Comey, who was the director of the FBI, released a scathing report about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for official government business. This had a significant impact on Clinton's bid for the presidency against Trump, particularly in the crucial final stages of the campaign.

Jim Messina, who managed Obama's re-election campaign in 2012, wrote on X that we shouldn't fall for the trap the special counsel is setting for us, as he is not foolish. Comey did the same thing in 2016. Although Hur is a longtime Republican and is familiar with the ins and outs of DC, he did not have a valid argument against Biden. However, he was aware of how his criticisms could negatively impact Biden's public image. We must proceed with caution.

However, Democrats will have to consider if Biden should handle questions about his age in a new way. A survey conducted by NBC in January revealed that 76 percent of Americans were either significantly or moderately worried about his capability to serve another term as president, considering his mental and physical health.

Every now and then, Biden has made lighthearted comments regarding his age, but he has yet to fully justify why it shouldn't affect his candidacy for President, how he plans to maintain his well-being, or how his years of political experience could actually be an advantage.

Critics have also condemned the president for not often participating in individual interviews with major news outlets of the country. He refused to be interviewed by CBS before the much-awaited Super Bowl event on Sunday.

Even though Trump's advisors made fun of Biden after Hur's report and his speaking at the White House, the ex-president remained silent on the findings. However, Haley, someone competing against him for the Republican nomination, spoke out on the matter.

According to her, Joe Biden and Donald Trump share some similarities. They both have not reached their prime and they were careless with official documents belonging to the United States.