“The View” co-hosts sparred over President Joe Biden’s age Monday, arguing former President Donald Trump’s age is just as much a concern.
Biden fell onstage on Thursday after he tripped over a sandbag at the U.S. Air Force Academy Graduation.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg brought up The New York Times (NYT) article published Sunday highlighting Biden’s age as the oldest sitting president.
“If he’s doing his job, if he’s getting stuff done, what’s the problem? Yeah, people fall down. I believe he tripped,” Goldberg said. “What is this obsession?”
“I’ve known old people all my life, and I’ve never seen this kind of obsession with people being old,” she continued. (RELATED: ‘We Are Not The Rule’: Sunny Hostin Tries To Lecture Tim Scott On Racism. He Won’t Have Any Of It)
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin then chimed in to say while falls do happen, “We have to be able to have a conversation about age in this country, when it’s a job that is four years longer, and he’s the oldest president already in history, and he would be even older in four more years in office.”
“I’ve worked in the White House for a very different president, but I’m telling you, that job ages you,” she continued. “It is reasonable to talk about the factor of – I hate to say it, this is actually a sad statistic – average life expectancy for a man in the U.S. is only 73 years old. Now granted, people are living longer, and I want them to live longer, but he’s already living longer than the average man, and I think we have to think about that when we’re committing to four more years of a presidency.”
“So is Donald Trump,” co-host Ana Navarro chimed in. “He’s over 73, too. So what I want to know is, why are we always talking about Biden’s age and we’re not talking about Donald Trump’s age? Biden fell off a bike the other day: At least Joe Biden was on a bike!”
Co-host Sunny Hostin then chimed in.
“I don’t think you’re a hypocrite, Alyssa, and I would never call you that, but I hope that when you worked for the president, that older president, who … could not walk down a ramp, could not hold a glass of water with one hand, I hope you had those discussions with yourself and your colleagues when you worked for that guy.”
Griffin pushed back, saying she agrees that “Donald Trump’s age is as much an issue as Joe Biden’s age is.”
Co-host Sara Haines joined in, adding Biden said age “should be considered,” calling it “important” before Goldberg jumped in.
“I actually don’t think it should come up unless they’re not doing their job, because – once you are not able to do your job, do the job you’ve been put in place to – because you don’t know until you know that somebody can’t do it,” Goldberg said.
“Listen, we’ve had presidents in wheelchairs, we’ve had impaired presidents, we’ve had presidents with bad backs,” she continued. “I just don’t see why, if we’re talking about the whole presidency, if the person isn’t doing what they’re supposed to do, then we must talk about it, because we’re saying, ‘Listen, you need to be up here.’ He’s outpacing folks on the road with him!”
Navarro then argued Biden was fine after his bike fall because “he went back to the White House and he signed the debt limit lifting that he had expertly negotiated.”