A CNN panel on Friday laughed and joked about Democrats’ ability to hit former President Donald Trump on his age now that they have replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.
Trump is 78, while the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, is 59. CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers, on “CNN News Central,” called Trump “diminished,” with host Kate Bolduan quipping that, regardless of Trump’s fitness, it’s a talking point that now benefits Democrats.
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“He’s diminished. And I think that if you look at a picture or a message from Donald Trump in 2016 versus the message that you saw yesterday, you see somebody who’s 78-years-old,” Sellers said. “And we all have grandparents who age in front of us, or parents who age in front of our eyes, and some of the things just don’t click like they used to. This is not the Donald Trump of eight years ago, not only that, but his material is getting old and stale.”
“I do think that voters are realizing that as the oldest person in the history of this country to run for president of the United States, you’re looking at a very diminished man,” he said later in the segment.
The majority of voters, including Democrats, voiced worries about Biden’s age and fitness in April, with a Pew Research poll finding that 65% of respondents had “little or no confidence” that Biden had the physical capacity to run the country, while just 40% believed the same of Trump.
“And no matter what the actual is, the political strategy in saying that now works in Democrats’ favor,” Bolduan quipped.
“I like using that talking point, actually,” Sellers responded, laughing, with Bolduan noting he is “happy to use it” and the commentator stating “it’s refreshing.”
CNN political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin could also be seen and heard on screen laughing at their banter.
Trump suggested during a Thursday press conference that his January 6, 2021, rally audience was the bigger than Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, NBC News reported.
“Dr. King’s like … why am I in this? I’m just up here chilling with Jesus … Let me relax,” Sellers joked at one point during the Friday segment, prompting Bolduan to laugh.
“There’s no politics in my laughter. That was so funny,” she said.
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“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart called out Sellers in July for “gaslighting” by insisting Biden’s issue is “age” rather than “cognitive decline.”
“If you look at his performance in 2020 versus his performance in 2024, there is an inexorable decline. It’s undeniable. So what I don’t understand is, okay, fine, he stays, but deal with it head-on. Stop pretending, stop gaslighting,” Stewart said.
Sellers said “that’s fine” to talk about Biden’s cognitive competence and not “gaslight” about it, but asserted it’s more of a priority to focus on Trump, whom he described as “a fucking monster.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.