Among the findings of our latest Washington Examiner/YouGov poll is the unsurprising fact that voters are more concerned about Joe Biden’s age than they are with President Trump’s. Sixty percent of respondents say that they are “very” or “fairly” concerned about Biden’s age, compared to just 45% who are “very” or “fairly” worried about Trump’s age.
It stands to reason. Trump is a spry 74 — whatever you think of him, you cannot claim he isn’t a bundle of energy. Biden, on the other hand, is clearly slipping at age 77. I tuned in to his speech in Ohio yesterday just long enough to hear him use the word “analys” — he meant to say “analysis,” of course, but he seemed to forget about that last syllable. The rest of the speech didn’t sound that great, either.
Perhaps that’s not such a big deal. But even if Biden is still mostly functional now, what’s he going to be like in 2023 or 2024?
Nancy Pelosi has just this month reminded us, for whatever reason, that there’s a procedure for removing an incapacitated president. But the Cabinet (or the congressional panel, if she gets her way) cannot easily remove a president who is gradually losing his mental acuity. The 25th Amendment’s standard is quite exacting and with good reason. It is designed to deal with a president who is suddenly in a coma, not a president who is just a bit out of it — a bit more out of it than yesterday, a bit less than tomorrow, day by day.
