I cover national politics, with a focus on elections and the White House. Prior to joining Forbes, I wrote about New York politics for City & State magazine and The New York Post. I am based in New York City.
As concerns have grown that former President Donald Trump, 77, and President Joe Biden, 81, are too old to serve another term amid repeated rhetorical missteps since announcing their campaigns, here’s a list of the most notable recent gaffes.
to confuse former President Barack Obama with President Joe Biden—alleging during a rally in Virginia Putin has “so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word,” markingto forget the name of his wife, Melania Trump, responding to loud applause in the crowd by saying “Mercedes, that’s pretty good!”—though his campaign claimed it was a reference to Mercedes Schlapp, a political commentator and the wife of American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp, who he mentioned later in the speech.while speaking at campaign events in New York, days after confusing French President Emmanuel Macron with his late predecessor Francois Mitterrand during a speech in Las Vegas.his sole remaining opponent in the GOP primary race, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a New Hampshire campaign speech, telling the crowd “Nikki Haley was in charge of security” on Jan. 6, 2020, as he has repeatedly sought, without evidence, to allege that Pelosi rejected his offer to send more troops to the Capitol that day.the leaders of Turkey and Hungary in a New Hampshire campaign speech and botched a geographical reference, telling the crowd Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the leader of Turkey, and stating that Turkey shares a “front” with Russia .Biden falsely stated he was in New York on Sept. 12, 2001 while delivering an anniversary speech to troops in Alaska, claiming he surveyed the damage at Ground Zero the day after the attacks .Biden has repeatedly mixed up the wars in Ukraine and Iraq, including twice in 24 hours in June, after telling a crowd in Florida ininflation was tied to “a war in Iraq,” then quickly corrected himself, saying “excuse me, the war in Ukraine,” a misstep that came moments before he wrongly stated his son Beau Biden, who served a year in Iraq in the Delaware Army National Guard, died there .Biden is the oldest president in history and Trump would be the second oldest if he were elected again in November. Though the two are just four years apart, polls consistently show Biden’s age is a far greater concern for voters than Trump’s, including a February Bloomberg/Morning Consultthat found 82% of voters said Biden or both candidates were too old, compared to 47% who said the same about Trump or both candidates. The age concerns, exacerbated by the candidates’ various rhetorical missteps, have fueled calls for one, or both candidates, to drop out of the race, including a Februaryabout his own age. In an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” last month, Biden took a jab at Trump for appearing to mix up Melania and Mercedes Schlapp, telling Meyers that Trump is “about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name.”Biden’s verbal missteps have been coupled with trips and falls throughout his tenure, often on the stairs of Air Force One, that have heightened concerns about his mental and physical fitness. In one particularly concerning incident, Bidenon stage at an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado in June last year, an incident his team blamed on a sandbag on stage.Biden and Trump are poised for a historic rematch in November as Biden has swept all four Democratic primaries so far and Trump has won nine of 10 GOP primary contests. The likely race is expected to be closely contested, with polls showing Biden trailing Trump by two points, according to Real Clear Politics’against reading into the candidates’ verbal slip-ups on the campaign trail, arguing they can’t necessarily be attributed to old age."We make mistakes. The probability of slip-ups rises as we get older. That has nothing to do with judgment," S. Jay Olshansky, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told Reuters, adding “Someone commenting on Trump turning right when he should have turned left? Big deal. Tripping? Join the club. A misspoken word? It happens to all of us. None of us would survive a 24/7 camera."Biden, who has a penchant for gaffes dating back to his 36 years in the Senate, has argued his age is symbolic of his decades of experience, telling reporters in response to the Hur report “I know what the hell I am doing.” Heresults of his annual physical exam last week that found he is “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit” to serve as president, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote. The test did not include a cognitive exam, something White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre argued wasn’t necessary, telling reporters “he passes a cognitive test every day,” referring to the rigors of the presidency. Trump, meanwhile, has claimed he purposely confuses Obama and Biden and Haley and Pelosi, claiming Haley and Pelosi are “interchangeable” and alluding to the unfounded right-wing conspiracy that Obama is secretly pulling the strings at the White House.any attempts to mandate the tests would pass legal muster, based on the qualifications laid out in the Constitution for holding the office of the presidency. Trump has said repeatedly he’s “aced” two cognitive exams, but he has not released the formal results of either report.Biden Slips On Air Force One Stairs After Staff Try To Prevent Major Falls-As Gaffes Raise Concerns About His Age
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