The new “stable genius” phrase is upon us. This week outside the White House, commenting about the growing field of Democratic presidential primary candidates seeking to take him on in the 2020 general election, President Donald Trump tried to cast himself as the young, spry one in the race. His comments came on the heels of former Vice President Joe Biden finally formally announcing his presidential bid at the age of 76 years old. He would be inaugurated while 78, which would be the oldest age of an incoming president in American history.
In that light, Trump told reporters:
‘I think that I just feel like a young man — I’m so young! I can’t believe it — I am the youngest person. I am a young, vibrant man. I look at Joe — I don’t know about him, I don’t know. I would never say anyone is too old but I know they’re all making me look very young, both in terms of age and I think in terms of energy.’
Watch:
TRUMP, who is 72, says, “I’m so young. I can’t believe it. I’m the youngest person. I’m a young, vibrant man.” pic.twitter.com/kYsCg643xE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2019
To be clear, Trump himself set the currently in-place record for oldest inaugurated American president when at the age of 70, he took the Oath of Office back in January 2017. He’s now 72 and would be inaugurated in 2021 at 74, meaning he’s only four years behind Biden. Yet, Trump still wants us to take his claim seriously that he’s the able-bodied one in the race. He’s not even five years younger than Biden and they’re both in their 70’s! You’d no doubt be hard pressed at best to find an example of any sort of already in-place standard anywhere that enshrined the age difference Trump is trying to hype up as significant.
He has pointed to his supposed high energy before, and on the flip side of that, he’s also repeatedly derided his opponents as having “low energy” in the past all the way back to the 2016 Republican presidential primaries when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush became “low energy Jeb.” Other similarly targeted individuals include former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In October 2016, the Trump campaign released an ad featuring footage of Clinton, who’s long been in the public eye, coughing, stumbling, and so on, with the ominous narration:
‘Hillary Clinton doesn’t have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world.’
As evidence for Trump supposedly not falling into that category, he’s pointed to features of his rise like his often rambling, teleprompter-less speeches — although it’s unclear at best that standing in front of screaming fans and talking about how great you are for combined hours on end should be taken as a sign of mental, let alone physical stability.
Although Trump’s commentary this week may offer a prelude to similar rhetoric on the campaign trail should he face Biden in the general election — and it certainly fits with his other reality-disconnected, egomaniacal commetary — there’s still the question of if Biden will win the primary. He’s on top of most polling, with RealClearPolitics estimating him this week to have about 29.3 percent of the support. Sen. Bernie Sanders — who is presently 77 and would be 79 at his inauguration — is in second place, with about 23 percent of the support.
Featured Image via screenshot
