“One of the reasons they decided not to prosecute him is because they looked at his age and the report described him as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with bad memory, and they didn’t think they could get a conviction.”
The report highlighted that Biden couldn’t remember when his vice-presidency ended and when his son, Beau, had died during questioning. Biden exacerbated the concerns when he confused Mexico and Egypt during a press conference where he had intended to dispute claims of his poor memory.
Biden, who is 81, is not alone in generating these concerns. His main rival for November’s presidential election is Donald Trump, who is 77, and McCann said he had raised some concerns for his memory recently as well.
“Donald Trump confused the former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, with Nikki Haley, another candidate running for president when he was talking about the January 6 Capitol riots, and there’s a few examples there of Donald Trump making mistakes as well.
“But I don’t think people here are as concerned about Trump’s age as they are Biden’s. Trump is still seemingly full of energy and vigour at these rallies. He can speak for an entire hour about whatever he wants - he doesn’t appear to sort of drift off in the middle of speeches like Joe Biden.”
While Trump may have the edge regarding memory, McCann said polls have shown many Americans are not thrilled with the two candidates they’ve got before them.
“I was looking at some polls today from ABC News, and 86 per cent of Americans, so nearly all of them, think Joe Biden is too old to serve another term, and 62 per cent of Americans think Donald Trump is too old to serve another term.”
Yet the grip Trump has over his party, and the precedent that parties don’t put a candidate against a sitting president, means Republicans and Democrats have no choice but to hope their respective ageing candidate has the edge come November.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the state of US politics and how the election could turn out.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. This episode was presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined Newstalk ZB in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
