MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinksi went after Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for criticizing President Joe Biden’s age last week.
“The former South Carolina governor said Biden is likely to die in office if he is reelected,” Brzezinksi summarized. “Who does this? I’m sorry, it just seems really untoward.”
The “Morning Joe” team compared the criteria for Haley’s long-called for “competency tests” for older politicians — specifically those over the age of 75 — with the age of former president Donald Trump, who is also over 75.
Haley went for Biden’s age of 80 in an interview with Fox News.
“He announced that he’s running again in 2024, and I think that we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden you really are counting on a President Harris,” she said. “Because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely.”
“I wish Joe Biden the best of health, but it’s only sensible to consider the reality of an already slipping president serveing through his mid-80s,” Haley added.
Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told NBC News, “As you know, we don’t directly respond to campaigns from here. But honestly, I forgot she was running.”
Brzezinski and company also dissected the Republican strategy to shape a vote for Biden into a vote for Kamala Harris because “Joe Biden is hard to hate.”
“They’ve struggled, the hardcore extremists, to have a message that’s anti Joe Biden and nasty enough to really resonate,” Elise Jordan said. “And so they know that Kamala Harris isn’t as popular as Joe Biden also and she’s unpopular. among Republican primary voters.”
Biden announced his campaign for re-election last week. The “Morning Joe” guests pointed out that Trump is only three years younger than Biden.