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It took literal seconds for the internet to respond to Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, this time offering its two cents on a common talking point used against the outgoing president.
Legions of social media users have flocked to X to respond to the widely-held sentiment that Biden was too old for the presidency, and are now reveling in the knowledge that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is replacing Biden on the ticket, is far younger than her opponent.
For context, Biden’s age was a topic of conversation in regards to his fitness to run for president, with those on both sides of the political aisle questioning whether, at 81 years old, he would be able to sustain another term in office. It was a talking point also leveled by Donald Trump (despite him being just three years younger), and one that picked up steam following Biden’s lacklustre debate performance.
But now, the tables have seemed to turn against Trump in regard to this topic, since he now faces a much younger opponent in Harris, who is just 59 years old and renders all the chatter about age mute. In fact, Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race means that Trump is now the oldest candidate to be running for president in US history, meaning the Democrats have managed to defuse concerns about age while calling into question the fitness of Trump, who is 19 years her senior.
Netizens have reveled in these developments, sharing countless memes relating to Trump and Harris’ respective ages. One X user posted the question: “Who’s the oldest candidate now?”, followed by one of multiple GIF-worthy reaction shots of Harris. Others suggested that Harris’ age “feels refreshingly young compared to the options we were going to have,” especially when put against the “relic from Stonehenge she’s running against.”
Also joining the fray was E. Jean Carroll, an author who accused Trump of sexual assault in 2019. Sharing a picture of Trump on a golf course (one of his favorite pastimes), Carroll wrote that the former president is “suddenly … looking very, very old.” It’s a mic drop moment that helps put to bed any concerns around the Democratic nominees’ age, though we imagine the pro-Trump talking points will now veer toward Harris’ race in much the same way they did for Barack Obama.
What’s more, many on the list of candidates predicted to serve as Harris’ vice president — including Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and Josh Shapiro — are all under 60 years old, which could result in a young Democratic ticket that’ll defuse any chatter about age once and for all.