Former President Donald Trump came out in favor of a mental competency test for presidents, despite a recent series of gaffes, including accusing the “cognitively challenged” President Biden of throwing the United States into “Second World War”.
Expressing his opposition to age limits for presidents, Trump predictably boasted of having “passed” a competency test while in office while lending his support to them.
“No, but there should be a competition. “I’m all for testing,” Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview broadcast Sunday.
“I took a test two or three years ago,” Trump added. “And I got over it. “I did everything right.”
One of his rivals, 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, 51, has called for mandatory testing for politicians age 75 and older.
That would include both Trump, 77, and Biden, 80.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that 77% of American adults surveyed favor a maximum age for politicians.
“It is always time for a new generation. But, you know, some of the greatest world leaders have been over 80 years old,” Trump said in the interview. “And Biden is not too old. I don’t think Biden is too old. But I think he is incompetent and that is a bigger problem.”
On Friday, Trump drew attention during a speech at the “Pray Vote Stand” summit in Washington, D.C., during which he claimed that the “cognitively challenged” Biden would lead the United States into “World War II” if he won a second term.
The former president noted that he knows older businessmen, like Bernie Marcus, who are still smart despite their old age.
In another mishap, Trump appeared to hint that he was eclipsing former President Barack Obama in the polls.
“As you know, corrupt Joe Biden and the radical left thugs have armed law enforcement to arrest their main political opponent, and they lead by many, including Obama, I’ll tell you what,” Trump reflected.
Republicans have criticized President Biden for his age and a series of verbal errors and glaring mishaps.REUTERS
“If you look at Obama and look at some of the things he’s done, it’s the same thing,” he continued. “The country is very divided and that’s how we did it: with Obama we won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won.”
Obama was president when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Trump’s main Republican foe, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 45, argued last week that “they probably would have put an age limit on some of these positions.”
“The presidency is not a job for an 80-year-old,” he told CBS News. “You are talking about a job in which you have to give 100%. We need an energetic president. And I think if the founders could look at this again, I think they probably would have put an age limit on some of these positions.”
Biden is no stranger to public mistakes either. Last year, for example, he called out the late Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski during a White House event about eight weeks after her death.
More recently, he falsely suggested that he was at Ground Zero the day after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Biden’s autobiography places him in Washington, DC.
Nikki Haley debuted her campaign with a call for mental competency testing for elderly politicians. Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Trump, who loves to drink Coca-Cola and eat McDonalds, continued to downplay his age during the NBC interview and highlighted his strong genetics.
“Well, I will be towards the end,” Trump said when moderate Kristen Welker pointed out that he would be in his 80s. “My father lived much longer than that. My mother lived much longer than that. Genetically, that’s a good thing.”
Trump’s father, Fred, lived to be 93 and his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, to 88. At the end of a hypothetical second term, Trump would be 82 years old.
Over the summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had two very public freeze episodes.REUTERS
Polls have indicated widespread unease about Biden’s age. At 80, he is already the oldest president in US history and would be 86 when he concludes a hypothetical second term.
Trump previously expressed a similar sentiment about age during an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM show.
Donald Trump argued that he is still physically near the top of his game and has boasted about his golf skills.MSNBC
“A lot of people were phenomenal at 80 years old. There is great wisdom if you are not in a position like him. But if we go back 25 years, he was not in the best position either,” he said.
Both Trump and Biden remain the clear favorites in their respective races to be their party’s standard bearer.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn