Biden Rehearses New Attack Against Trump: Former President’s Age

(CNN) — US President Joe Biden deliberately sought a new line of attack against his former and potential future opponent Donald Trump on Monday, mocking the former president’s age as Biden tries to turn around one of his most pressing issues.

Responding to critics who say his own age is a liability in the upcoming election, Biden, 81, told Seth Meyers: “You’ve got to take a look at the other guy,” referring to Trump, 77.

“He’s the same age as me, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” he joked, apparently referring to an episode over the weekend in which the former president mistakenly called his wife Melania “Mercedes” during a statement at CPAC. .

During an interview on NBC’s “Late Night,” Biden said voters should consider not only a candidate’s age, but also “how old his ideas are.”

“Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to push us back,” Biden said of Trump. “He wants us to go back to Roe v. Wade, he wants us to go back to a broad range of issues that, for 50, 60 years, have been a strong American position.”

The meeting with Meyers came shortly after the White House announced that Biden would visit the Texas-Mexico border on Thursday, the same day that Trump plans to head to Eagle Pass, Texas, about 300 miles away and the epicenter of the latest clashes between A pre-recorded interview was conducted. State and federal governments at border crossings.

Biden’s comments about Trump’s age could mark a significant shift in the president’s messaging strategy, just days after Trump won the South Carolina Republican primary in another step toward his party’s presidential nomination.

The two men have not often attacked each other over their age, and Trump has previously said he does not believe Biden is too old to run for re-election. Instead of directly attacking Biden because of his age, Trump is trying to paint Biden as “disabled” and “cognitively challenged,” which he says isn’t just about the president’s age.

During his trip to Texas, Biden plans to meet with US Border Patrol agents, other law enforcement and local elected officials and “discuss the urgent need to pass a bipartisan Senate border security agreement,” according to a White House statement.

Biden will meet with top congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the border, including the need to avert a government shutdown and approve more emergency funding for Ukraine.

On the show, Biden also reiterated criticism of Trump’s recent statement that he would let Russia have its way with NATO member states that fail to meet their funding obligations.

“I mean, what are we talking about here? What in God’s name? The idea of ​​the President of the United States urging Vladimir Putin to invade the West? It is unusual, quite unusual. And that’s completely against our interests,” Biden said.

Foreign leaders, Biden said, are “scared to death” about what a second Trump term could mean for relations between the United States and other countries.

“Democracy is at stake,” Biden told Meyers. “That’s really it.”