“Not a Job for Somebody Pushing 80”: Ron DeSantis Says Trump and Biden Are Both Too Old for the Presidency

William FurneyDec 1, 2023

Minute Read

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential ambitions may be dimming, as he falls even further in the polls, but that hasn’t stopped him from positioning himself as a younger and more vibrant alternative to President Biden and former president Trump.

Aging Candidates

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Both Trump and Biden are facing growing calls to step aside due to their advanced ages. Biden is 81 and already the oldest person to have been elected US president, and Trump is just a few years younger, at 77.

Biden and Trump the Frontrunners

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Despite voters’ concerns over President Biden and Trump’s years, national polls show that both men are their respective Democratic and Republican parties’ clear choices for their 2024 presidential nominees. They both have a lead of around 50 or more points over rivals in their fields.

Presidency ‘Not for Old Men’

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Governor DeSantis, whose own poll ratings have tanked as voters became increasingly disillusioned over his right-wing policies, said the US presidency is “not a job for somebody that is pushing 80.”

‘Should Step Aside’

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Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union program, DeSantis, who is a youthful 45 compared to Biden and Trump, suggested that candidates for the presidency should know when they are too old and step aside in favor of younger people.

No Escaping ‘Father Time’

DeSantis said: “I just think that that’s something that has been shown with Joe Biden. Father Time is undefeated. Donald Trump is not exempt from any of that.”

‘Prime of My Life’

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The embattled Republican governor declared that he was in the “prime of my life” as he pointed to an embarrassing string of gaffes Biden recently made, as well as news coverage also showing him tripping and falling while on stage and the steps of Air Force One.

DeSantis Promise

DeSantis vowed that if he were elected next November he would “serve two terms, deliver big results, and get the country moving again. That’s what Republican voters want to see.”

Trump ‘Age-Related Issues’

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Trump has not been immune to his own, seemingly age-related blunders, recently forgetting the name of the city he was in and muddling the names of foreign leaders. DeSantis’ campaign has launched a “Trump Accident Tracker” as “a way of recording how long the former president can go without a workplace accident on the campaign trail.”

DeSantis’ Own Problems

From a high of around 40 points, DeSantis has plunged to low-teen national polling as his campaign faltered. According to an average of national polls compiled by the FiveThirtyEight website, DeSantis has 12.4 percent support from Republican voters. That compares to Trump’s massive lead of 59.9 percent.

Other GOP Rivals

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Apart from Trump, other contenders for the GOP nomination for 2024, in primaries due to take place in January, are former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, at 9.8 percent in national polling; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, with 5.1 percent; and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who is polling nationally at just 2.9 percent.

Additional Trump Issues

DeSantis will be hoping, say political analysts, to profit from Trump’s mountain of legal problems that threaten to derail his attempt to return to the White House. The former president has been hit with four indictments that have a total of 91 federal criminal charges.

Trump’s Indictments Explained

Trump has been indicted twice, at federal level and in Georgia, for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election he lost to Biden and block the peaceful transfer of power. Two other indictments concern alleged mishandling of confidential government papers and alleged hush money payments to cover up an alleged affair with a former adult film star.

Trump’s Pleas

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the indictment charges and says they are the work of Democratic operatives who want to prevent him from becoming president again. Should he get back to the White House, he says he will “root out” political opponents he branded “vermin,” just as they are doing to him now.

Democrats ‘Going Easy on Trump’

Also in his CNN interview, DeSantis said that Democrats were currently “going very easy” on Trump but that it would all change should Trump clinch the Republican Party nomination.

‘Scorched Earth’

DeSantis predicted that with Trump as the Republican candidate next year and the 2024 race in full swing that voters would “see scorched earth. You’re gonna see all this stuff brought out from the past. The whole election will end up being a referendum on Donald Trump, and Biden will be able to hang out in the basement, and I think he’ll be able to get away with it again.”