President Donald Trump turned 80 this weekend, and according to his one-time biographer, it was far from a celebration for him, as his advancing age has him anxious and shutting down his own administration’s plans to tackle voter concerns about it head-on.
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Trump is the oldest person ever elected to the presidency in the U.S., and is set to end his second term in the White House at age 82. His advanced age has prompted widespread concern about his mental and physical fitness for office, concerns which have been greatly exacerbated by recurring bruises on his hand, his tendency to fall asleep during televised public events and his increasingly incoherent and rambling speeches.
Michael Wolff is a longtime writer and reporter, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump’s life and political career, including a series of books about his first term, based on insider sources. During the latest edition of his Daily Beast podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head,” he revealed that Trump has not been handling concerns about his age well, and even shut down plans from his officials to address his age with a messaging strategy.
“I know that there has been — this is a difficult and awkward discussion inside the Trump circle, this birthday,” Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles. “I know of one situation in which this was brought up, how to kind of counterprogram against this. And also, against the background of Biden and how that affected his age and the perception of his age, and the fact that they failed to successfully program against that affected his presidency.”
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He added, “So what should they do, and isn’t this worthy of a substantial discussion? Well, Trump completely cut that off. Cut this person dead. No discussion of this. No wanting to go down that path. And, in fact, he now deflects to the 250th birthday of the United States. That’s the birthday that counts. That’s the birthday they should be thinking about. Anything not to have people thinking about his 80th birthday.”
Trump himself appears to have let these anxieties slip through, with the Daily Beast noting an Oval Office exchange earlier this week in which he told Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Mehmet Oz that it was OK to not wish him a happy birthday.
“You don’t have to wish me a happy birthday, because I’m not happy about that birthday,” Trump said. “It’s a number that I never thought really too much about. It’s not a number I like, but I’m here nonetheless.”
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