Bari. Joe Biden’s age is a constant issue in the US presidential election campaign. There are also discussions about his condition on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.
It’s a strange scene: the heads of state and government watch a spectacle of paratroopers at the G7 summit in southern Italy. They look up to the sky, US President Joe Biden looks up with his mouth open, occasionally wiping his lips. After the paratroopers land, he takes a few steps towards one of them, very slowly, gives a thumbs up until the host of the summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, touches his arm and invites him back to the group for a lecture to presentation.
The 81-year-old also listens with his mouth open, puts on his aviator glasses in slow motion, and then stands still, his arms hanging motionless, as the other heads of government near him try to appear interested or friendly. and Meloni, as he did several times that day, adjusting his very long and baggy pants. Yes, the president doesn’t seem particularly powerful in this scene. But for anyone who regularly watches the oldest U.S. president ever, a moment like this is common. On the sidelines of the G7 summit, however, there is a lot of talk about how unstable the most powerful man in the world appears on the international stage.
Justin Trudeau (l-r), Fumio Kishida, Giorgia Meloni, Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden watch paratroopers in the sky at the summit of G7 countries in Borgo Egnazia, near Bari.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Material for the Trump campaign machine
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was even questioned by journalists about the scene and dismissed the fact that Biden was just being “polite” with the paratroopers. As Biden is in the middle of the election campaign for a second term, the campaign machine of Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump, is particularly racking up scenes like this.
Biden is wandering aimlessly at the G7 summit and needs to be caught by others, GOP activists are shouting about the parachute scene on social media. They dissect the incumbent’s every statement and every move in order to portray him as a senile old man on the verge of collapse and incapable of uttering a straight sentence – let alone leading the country. During Biden’s first stop in Europe, during his visit to France, Trump’s campaign team distributed several video clips to make Biden look particularly old – but everything was distorted, shortened and edited in such a way that it was taken out of context and lost reality.
Constant errors
But the truth is that Biden, grandfather of seven children, makes mistakes every day and is not particularly agile. His gait is stiff – even the president’s personal doctor confirms this in every published health exam. The Democrat moves slowly and approaches the stairs cautiously. Almost every time he performs, he misses the mark, can’t finish sentences or stumbles over complicated words—and not just because he grew up with a stuttering problem.
Biden repeatedly mixes up the names or nationalities of foreign heads of state and government. French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, recently made Biden his predecessor, François Mitterrand. When the Americans launched air deliveries of food to the Gaza Strip in the spring, Biden accidentally announced at the White House that the food packages would be dropped over Ukraine.
The position of president of the United States is considered one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Biden is doing this at an age when others have been retired for many years. Election campaign has been added. Around the G7 summit, Biden traveled between the US and Europe twice in two weeks. And from the summit in Italy, the Democrat will fly directly to Los Angeles, on the West Coast of the USA, to campaign there. Something like this could affect even people half Biden’s age.
Skipped dinner
At the G7 meeting on Thursday night, the US President missed the celebratory dinner. This was also closely watched and was prematurely interpreted by the Italian media as a sign of Biden’s “exhaustion”. The Democrat was still working at the time and appeared at the same time as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. There, too, Biden got lost several times in his statements.
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In just under two weeks, Biden faces a real test: the first televised duel against Trump. 90 minutes of live television debate against an unpredictable opponent who, at 78 years old, is also a veteran and constantly makes embarrassing mistakes, but at the same time is a master of spectacle. Still, the world will probably be watching.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240614-99-397634/4 (dpa)