If all you heard about President Joe Biden’s first press conference Thursday was from “Hannity,” you probably don’t think it went well.
Biden’s performance was “a train wreck in slow motion,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said on his show Thursday night. Hannity offered a compilation of Biden clips totaling about 30 seconds taken from the 62-minute press conference as proof of Biden’s supposed cognitive decline.
“His long rambling answers, his confusion, at points making no sense, whatsoever,” Hannity said. “At other times he became dazed and confused, he just stopped midsentence, stared into space, stared into the distance.”
While Biden did appear to lose his train of thought while answering a question about the filibuster, his performance exceeded the low bar set by some conservative critics, who expected incoherence. Biden took questions from 10 reporters for more than an hour and made no major gaffes.
Biden, 78, has frequently found himself under attack from the right over his age and fitness for office. Not all Republicans agree nor think it’s a particularly productive line of criticism, though.
President Joe Biden leaves after speaking at a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Washington.
Evan Vucci, Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump, who is about four years younger than the president, attacked Biden’s mental acuity during the 2020 campaign, calling him “dumb” and “not all there.” Mark McKinnon, a former George W. Bush chief media adviser, told NBC News at the time that meant all Biden needed to do was show up to debates and complete sentences, and “it’s game over.” Russia also joined in, pushing disinformation about Biden’s mental health, according to a Department of Homeland Security bulletin obtained by ABC News.
Questions were raised about Trump’s own health when he was president. Some on the right now see a double standard, claiming, for example, the media paid more attention to Trump’s slow walk down a ramp after speaking at West Point than Biden’s stumble while walking up the stairs to Air Force One.
While conservative media are quick to pounce on Biden’s age and health, seven Republican senators who spoke on the record to Politico said Biden was all there when they’ve met with him. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Biden “listened very attentively and appropriately” during their meeting, and Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said Biden “seemed well-prepared and well-briefed” during a meeting he attended.
“In the two meetings I was in with the president, he was as sharp as a tack,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said.
Biden said it was fair to ask about his age during an interview on “The View” in 2019, and said he hoped to show voters how it was a plus.
“It’s a legitimate question to ask about my age,” he said. “Hopefully I can demonstrate not only with age comes wisdom and experience that can make things a lot better.”
Biden is the oldest person to be sworn in as president, beating the previous record set by a then-70-year-old Trump in 2017. Biden is also set to eclipse Ronald Reagan’s record for the oldest president to leave office. Reagan was 77 when his second term ended. Biden said during the press conference he expects to run for a second term.