Former President Donald Trump pushed back Thursday during a Fox News interview on President Joe Biden’s age being the reason behind his frequent “difficulty.”
Trump appeared on “Hannity” in a one-on-one interview at the southern border to discuss a slew of ongoing political issues that the U.S. is facing. During the discussion, Fox host Sean Hannity asked the former president his thoughts regarding a recent poll that showed an overwhelming majority of Americans are concerned about Biden’s age as the president has had continuous public gaffs. (RELATED: The Media Is Wrong — Trump’s Immunity Appeal Is Moving Along At ‘Lightning’ Speed)
Trump clarified to the Fox host that he didn’t believe age was the issue with Biden’s “difficulty,” noting that while it may be an “easy answer” he didn’t “like” answering it. The former president continued to state his support of having Biden go through a cognitive test and emphasized the importance of the grave “time in history” the U.S. is currently at.
“Well, I hate to hear when they use the word ‘old,’ because I don’t believe it’s old. I know people that are 87, 88, I know people that are 90—in the 90s. I mean Bernie Marcus, as an example — he’s 95. There are people that are just as sharp — it seems to me, just as sharp as they ever were. There is something — I guess wrong. I feel I’m at a conflict when you asked me that question, because we are opponents and, I don’t know, it’s a tough question to answer. It’s easy – the answer – but I don’t like doing it. He’s got some difficulty. But it’s not the age, because I know a lot of people that are much older than him that are 100% sharp. I think most people agree with that,” Trump stated.
“I don’t believe he’d be capable of sitting down to do an interview like this. I debated Gavin Newsom. I said, ‘the problem is the guy you’re bragging about could not have this exchange,'” Hannity responded.
“He could not do this interview. He couldn’t do an interview where you ask even a few questions. I said this morning, I say it loud and clear, he should take a cognitive test — a president should take a cognitive [test]. Now they say that’s unconstitutional, for whatever reason it’s unconstitutional. But I took two of them, and I aced both of them, I’m very proud to say. Meaning I got it all right,” Trump continued. “They’re not that easy. You know, they show you the first ones are pretty easy. Then you get up — you get into the middle category, then you get to the end questions. Very few people could answer those end questions. They’re actually very tough.”
“But I think it’s important that there be some form — we have this man negotiating nuclear weapons with Putin and with President Xi, and he has no idea what’s going on. He can’t find his way off a platform when he’s speaking — you have five stairs and he ends up walking into a wall. Whenever I imitate him, they say, ‘Trump had a hard time getting off a platform.’ Every once in a while I’ll do things out of sarcasm because I love sarcasm. But politically it never works because they always turn it around on you. But I’ll tell you what, it is not an age thing. But something’s going on. We can’t take a chance. This is the most dangerous time in the history of the world. We have an incompetent president,” Trump stated.
A recent poll conducted by the Ipsos’ Knowledge Panel found that out of 528 surveyed adults, nearly 86% voted that Biden is “too old” for a second term. The survey asked the potential voters if they believed “Biden, Trump, both, or neither” were “too old” to serve a second term in office, notably following the recent release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, in which the president was labeled as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
Within the poll, 59% found both Trump and Biden to be too old, 27% alone went to Biden, 11% stated neither, and just 3% went to the former president.
After the release of Hur’s report, Biden received major backlash regarding his mental health with some Democrats concerned about the president’s ability to make it through to the 2024 general elections. Biden had held a late-night press conference to defend his cognitive abilities. However, the president could not remember the church parish his son’s rosary was from and mixed up multiple world leaders.