Both men have behaved in ways that might give even the most cautious observer pause, says Emma Brockes
The question isn’t whether Trump or Biden is declining faster: it’s why the US is faced with this choiceo election involving Donald Trump can be considered normal, but, in among all the breaches and oddities of this uniquely strange presidential race, one stands out as stranger than others. That is:Until recently, this topic was considered at best unsporting, at worst dangerous – particularly on the left, where it is assumed that discussions around age will hurt Biden more than Trump.
Since then, all standards have lowered, cognitive impairment has become a major part of Trump’s campaign to undermine Biden, and both men – 78 and 81 respectively – have behaved in ways that might give even the most cautious observer pause., at a time of unprecedented video documentation and manipulation, and in a race in which the stakes are so high you would have to be superhuman not to suffer the occasional lapse.
Still, the evidence of decline on both sides is compelling. Let’s start with Trump. There is something grimly amusing about the defence that he has always been like this: hopelessly inarticulate, hopping between subjects on the winds of his own energy and inability to listen. For a long time, it worked. Over the last few years, however, Trump’s verbal style has loosened into something more incoherent than charming.
And the visuals don’t help.
And so, while we can reassure ourselves with the reminder that, for example, George W Bush said things such as: “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream,” and he was only in his 50s, the more depressing fact about all of this is that out of a population of more than 330 million, this is the choice we face. You can be old, infirm, not on top of the details and hopelessly inarticulate, or at least give a very strong impression that all of these things are true.
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