Atlantic claims Trump not getting same age scrutiny Biden received
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The Atlantic claimed Monday that President Donald Trump does not face “the same kind of scrutiny” regarding his age and durability as former President Joe Biden.
“When Donald Trump took the oath of office last January, he was the oldest president to be inaugurated at 78 years and 220 days,” said Jonathan Lemire. started his article It’s titled “A Different Kind of Fading President.” “He replaced Joe Biden, who previously held the title; Joe Biden withdrew from the race after it became clear to the entire country that he was aging too quickly and too much.”
He continued: “But as Trump gets older, traveling less, switching to more comfortable shoes and falling asleep during meetings, his age is not subject to the same kind of scrutiny.”
CREDIBILITY CRISIS: THE MEDIA EXAMINED TRUMP’S HEALTH, FITNESS IN THE FIRST TERM BEFORE BLINDING BIDEN
A new article from The Atlantic encourages more coverage of President Donald Trump’s age ahead of his 80th birthday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Lemire acknowledged that the Biden administration “rebuked” reporters who wrote about the former president’s age and suggested that the initial “background” of Biden’s age was due to the White House’s response.
“Biden’s team steadily pushed back against worried murmurs about his age and ability to handle the responsibilities of the presidency, and for a while the story was mostly pushed into the background. Democrats with concerns bit their tongues. The president has had enough good times to encourage his allies and some in the media to look the other way, while allowing his aides to dismiss the narrative as a right-wing issue,” he wrote.
“But then Biden’s shortcomings became apparent with his faltering, confusing performance in the general election debate, followed by a wave of blame and finger-pointing among Democrats and journalists that continues to this day,” Lemire continued.
He argued that in light of Trump’s more frequent social media posts, ongoing health scandals and reduced domestic travel, more questions should be asked about the health of the president as he approaches his 80th birthday.
CREDIBILITY CRISIS: MEDIA’S ‘CHEAP FAKE’ NARRATIVE OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE CAUSES BAD DEBATES
The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire suggested that President Donald Trump’s age and durability do not face the same scrutiny as former President Joe Biden’s. (Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson defended Trump’s resilience and called for legacy media to cover up Biden’s “serious mental and physical decline.”
“President Trump’s sharpness, unparalleled energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration, when Democrats and legacy media deliberately suppressed Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” said White House spokesman Davis Ingle.
Fox News Digital has also reached out to Lemire for comment.
Many commentators on X criticized the piece, arguing that media members, including Lemire, willfully ignored Biden’s health and stamina until his 2024 debate with Trump.
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“What’s left out of the left’s shameless ‘Trump is losing’ nonsense is that Trump gave CONSTANT access to the media. The left wants to punish him for that. They were never punished for hiding Biden. Unless you count the fact that Trump won again,” Newsbusters executive editor Tim Graham wrote.
Outkick writer Ian Miller commented: “How has Biden been subjected to scrutiny for his age? Every time people brought up videos showing his apparent, rapid mental breakdown, the media called it ‘cheap hoaxes’ or conspiracy theories. It wasn’t until the debate happened that they knew he would lose the election and decided to impeach him.”
“Jonathan Lemire was sitting on set when Joe Scarborough looked directly into the camera and said: ‘I’m about to tell you the truth, and if you can’t handle the truth you’re the F. This is the best version of Biden yet.” It was March 2024. Joe Biden would withdraw from the race after 3 months. This won’t work,” wrote conservative commentator Stephen Miller.
“What color do you think the sky is on their planet?” radio host Derek Hunter remarked.
Legacy media, including the Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire, have embraced the “cheap fake” narrative depicting then-President Joe Biden’s senile videos as being manipulated by conservatives. (Getty Images)
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Lemire had previously criticized viral videos the New York Post published in June 2024 during an episode of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” showing Biden wandering aimlessly around the G-7 Summit. During his comments, he echoed then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s description of the videos as “cheap fakes.”
“That’s the problem that the Biden campaign, as well as those of us in the media, are going to have to deal with between now and November, because the pace of these hoaxes is accelerating,” Lemire said.
