White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre quickly ended a press conference with President Joe Biden in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, taking the mic away at one point even as Biden continued to answer questions.
“As the president was responding to shouted questions from the press, Jean-Pierre took to the microphone to announce, ‘Thank you everybody – this ends the press conference.’ Biden remained on stage briefly following her announcement, responding to one additional question, though his full answer was inaudible,” CNN reported.
“Biden had, at that point, taken the five questions from reporters in the room that he said he would, before announcing, ‘I tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bed.’ The White House announced at the start of the press conference that Biden planned to take questions from five reporters,” the outlet added.
Nevertheless, the president remained on stage, addressing further inquiries about his conversation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, until he was interrupted by the press secretary.
Throughout the press conference, the aged president joked about the demands of a whirlwind global trip, saying at one point, “These five-day trips around the world are no problem.”
CNN added:
Minutes before Jean-Pierre ended the press conference, Biden had delivered a lengthy answer that involved a rambling explanation of why he uses the phrase “lying dog-faced pony soldier” in an attempt to explain his feelings about politicians who deny the existence of climate change.
Such travel schedules led Jean-Pierre to tell CNN’s Jake Tapper last month that “no other president has been able to do” the job like Biden.
“People have come after the president about his age – they did it in 2019, they did it in 2020 leading into the general election, and they did it in 2022, and guess what? He beats them every time, because he has a finger on the pulse of what it is that the American people need, he talks about issues that really matter to the American people, and he is delivering,” she claimed.
Most Americans don’t buy it, however.
Biden is too old to serve in the White House effectively, according to more than 75 percent
A survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs found that Americans were more likely to say that Biden’s age would be a concern than former President Trump, who is only a few years younger than the president.
A whopping 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats agreed with the poll’s findings that Biden is too old to serve as vice president for another four years, according to The Hill.
The AP made the point that Biden’s age is not just viewed negatively by older people. However, about 50% of Americans thought Trump was too old to serve as president. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to think that Trump’s advanced age made him unfit for office.
Polls show that Democrats, Republicans, and independents all support setting age limits for the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress.
A little over two-thirds of respondents agreed that lawmakers and the president’s maximum ages should be set, and that judges should be required to retire by a certain age.
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s “Inside Politics” show, CNN host Dana Bash provided some sobering facts about Biden based on a brutal new survey from the network.
“There is no way to spin this. CNN reads the country’s mood right now and finds that America is deeply unhappy with Joe Biden. Most Democratic voters hope for change at the top of the ticket, and Americans don’t take the president and his word when he talks about his son Hunter,” she said as the show opened.
“Our new poll has important new takeaways about 2024. There is deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the incumbent and the direction he is taking the country. There are even deeper doubts about if Mr. Biden is up to the job again,” she added.