President Joe Biden is sequestered at his Camp David retreat for a week of intensive preparation ahead of his debate with Donald Trump, as the incumbent looks to dispel questions about his age and demonstrate he’s ready for the rigors of another four years in office.

Biden takes the stage Thursday in Atlanta for a forum that materialized suddenly after uncertainty over whether he would debate his opponent at all. Republicans and conservative media have amplified video clips to raise doubts over Biden’s fitness and acuity.

For 90 minutes on Thursday night, U.S. President Joe Biden has the chance to show doubting Americans that, at age 81, he is capable of handling the rigors of another four-year term, when he faces off in a debate against Republican Donald Trump.

A strong showing could help neutralize those concerns and focus voter attention on policy issues. A weak performance could dampen fundraising and push Trump further ahead in the polls.

President Biden spoke for a maximum of 33 minutes and clocked in at well under half an hour during the majority of the 11 campaign rallies this year at which he gave a solo address – performances that are at odds with the White House's portrayal of the president's stamina and that contrast sharply with the numerous lengthy orations delivered by Biden's 2024 rival: former President Trump.

Joe Biden’s mental health was going to be an issue in 2024. You don’t get a poll where 86 percent think he’s too old to run without a healthy number of Republicans, Democrats, and independents noticing that the Delaware liberal has lost more than just a step. He needs to be dragged around by his wife or former President Obama, though some disagree this particular moment at an LA fundraiser shows a senior moment for the president. It doesn’t negate that Biden is lost. Better examples of this mental degradation exist, like the G7 Summit, which was a mess. 

Spencer and Jaime wrote about this lengthy interview yesterday. It was a trainwreck. It might have ventured into rather testy territory when questions about Biden’s age came to the forefront. Biden could have been joking, but he’s not one to really take age and mental capacity questions lightly. He threatened to fight the reporter, claiming his old, frail constitution could take him. 

Advertisement

President Biden said he was more physically able to do the job of the presidency than anyone, appearing to joke in a new interview that he could beat up reporters who asked about his advanced age. 

Biden sat down with TIME magazine at the White House last month for a lengthy interview published on Tuesday. At one point, Biden was asked if he could still do the job "as an 85-year old man" who will be considered "too old to lead" by many Americans if he wins a second term.

At their weekly news conference, several Republican House leaders wrongly claimed the special counsel report into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents found the president was mentally unfit to stand trial. The report said no such thing.

Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report ultimately concluded “the evidence is not sufficient to convict” Biden and that “no criminal charges are warranted.”

Special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents has raised fresh questions about the president's reelection campaign.

The report, which declined to bring charges against Biden, characterized him as an "elderly man" with a "poor memory" who couldn't remember when his son died or when he was vice president. Biden and the White House have strongly refuted these claims.

If Joe Biden is unfit to stand trial, he’s unfit to be president.

Special counsel Robert Hur’s nearly 400-page report is full of damning evidence of Biden’s carelessness with vital national-security secrets.

And his defense of Biden is that the man is just too old and forgetful to be held responsible for his actions.

Consider Biden’s storage of Afghan war secrets in his Delaware home, including a classified handwritten memo he wrote to President Barack Obama in 2009 that Biden kept because he thought it would vindicate his opposition to sending more troops.

The daughter of the once-oldest president, Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when he took office, thinks cognitive tests for presidential candidates would be “a good idea,” she said in an interview that aired Sunday.

“Just what we know about what age can do, it doesn’t always do that, but it would probably be a good idea,” Patti Davis said on NBC’s Meet the Press, in response to a question from host Kristen Welker about whether she agreed with the prospect.