On June 5th, Caijing reported that the two candidates for the 2024 US presidential election, 81-year-old Joe Biden and 77-year-old Donald Trump, will hold a face-to-face presidential debate on the 27th of this month. Given their advanced ages, this debate has additional significance. American voters will confirm through live broadcast whether the future President who will lead them for the next four years has the physical and mental stamina to sustain the 90-minute public game. There are also indications that Biden may receive more attention.

According to the Wall Street Journal, during some behind-the-scenes meetings, Biden's performance fluctuated - sometimes he can communicate easily, while at other times he seems slow to respond. The White House firmly refutes this and emphasizes that Biden is still an "agile and energetic" President.

"Symptoms of decline"

Regarding Biden’s performance, it ultimately depends on the two parties’ debate over his cognitive health status.

According to reports quoting informed sources, in January of this year, when Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing of the White House to discuss aid to Ukraine, he would pull out notebooks to reiterate some of the views that had already been widely agreed upon by the members present, and often delay speaking to let other members speak - to the point that some of those who attended the meeting recalled that most of the conversation didn’t involve him, and when questions were directed at him, Biden would push them towards his staff.

Some other attendees also said that Biden sometimes speaks very softly, making it difficult for some people to hear him clearly. At the same time, he sometimes had the situation of "closing his eyes for a long time" during the meeting, which made some people in the room worry that "he was not listening anymore".

And last year, when Biden negotiated with Republican members (then Speaker McCarthy) about the debt ceiling, his attitude and grasp of negotiating details seemed to "change every day". According to McCarthy and knowledgeable sources involved in the negotiations, sometimes he could have easy and spontaneous exchanges with Republican members, while on some days he could only obscure his words while looking at his notebook.

McCarthy once said in an interview: "When he was vice president, I often met with him and sometimes went to his house, but now Biden is not the same person he used to be."

Before becoming the Vice President in the Obama administration in 2009, Biden was a senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and has served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. At that time, Biden was generally considered to be a legislative negotiation master on Capitol Hill, renowned for his insight into the needs and motivations of negotiating parties, and could also perform well under sudden pressure.

According to reports, some people who have had long-term cooperation with Biden, including Democrats, have expressed that the current President Biden looks "slower" and his performance is inconsistent.

However, White House officials and Democratic Party members who stand on the stage firmly refute this and emphasize that President Biden is still mentally sharp.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said that Republican members of Congress, foreign leaders and non-partisan security experts have all clearly stated that President Biden is a shrewd and effective leader with a deep legislative record. Now Republicans are treating false allegations as a political strategy, which contradicts their own previous statements.

The Wall Street Journal said that over the past few months, they have interviewed 45 people, and government officials and most Democrats emphasize that Biden has no problem handling meetings, and most Republicans say that Biden performed poorly, but some Democrats also stated that Biden appeared to be elderly while communicating.

It is very interesting that the White House is also closely following the progress of the interview. After some Democratic Party lawmakers shared interview details or recordings with the White House in their offices, they called the media and repeatedly emphasized Biden's advantages. New York Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks said, "They (the White House) just, you know, said that I should call you back."

Bates responded that the most important thing is to state all viewpoints in order to correct "false and politically motivated accusations".

"Making fewer mistakes in public" will be a key factor in the election.

Compared to these behind-the-scenes disclosures, American voters do not lack material of the two presidential candidates "talking nonsense" in public, especially Biden.

For example, on May 20th of this year, at a White House event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, Biden said that an American hostage being held in Gaza also participated in that day's event, and then corrected himself. The day before, he said at a campaign event that he had served as Vice President during the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, but in fact Trump's term had already entered its last year during the epidemic. Therefore, White House officials often have to edit President speeches to draw a line.

(Biden's May 19th speech draft (officially revised version), source: White House)

On the 27th of this month, the two candidates for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, 81-year-old Joe Biden and 77-year-old Donald Trump, will hold a face-to-face debate. Given their advanced ages, this debate has additional significance. American voters will confirm through live broadcast whether the future President, who will lead them for the next four years, has enough physical and mental stamina to sustain the public game that lasts for 90 minutes. There are also indications that Biden may receive more attention.

Looking further back, during a fundraising event in February of this year, Biden recalled conversing with former German Chancellor Kohl (who passed away in 2017) at the 2021 G7 summit; also in February, he stated that he had talked with former French President Mitterrand (who passed away in 1996) during that summit.

Of course, another elderly person who has run for the US presidency, Trump, has also experienced similar situations. In January of this year, he confused his party's opponents Nikki Haley and former Speaker of the House Pelosi in a speech; and in March of this year, he also incorrectly referred to the current US president, Biden, as Obama.

Editor/Emily