Discussing speculation over whether President Biden would run for reelection in 2024, "The View" host Joy Behar said Tuesday that David Axelrod, a former adviser to Barack Obama, should "keep his mouth shut" about president's age.
"David Axelrod should keep his mouth shut. And you know what, Ronald Reagan's rule was thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican. And I say onto you, David Axelrod, do not speak ill of a fellow Democrat," Behar declared.
Guest host Alyssa Farah brought up Axelrod's comments in a New York Times article from Saturday, headlined "Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise."
The New York Times reported that many Democrats were concerned with Biden's ability to save the party heading into the midterms and into 2024.
"The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue," Axelrod told the outlet.
"In asking the question, who is most fit to beat Donald Trump, because that man should never be president again, I'm not sure its Joe Biden," Farah said, adding that she didn't think Biden has the same "sharpness."
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said that we need someone who can get the country back "in line" and said that she's more interested in which Republicans have a shot.
Sunny Hostin said that she hopes it's not Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., because she believes "he handled COVID miserably."
"I think he's a fascist and a bigot," she continued.
"I hate this talk about, I think people saying he’s too old, I mean, you know, if the former, you know, twice-impeached, disgraced president thinks he’s such a young spring chicken I mean he’s going to be 78 when Joe Biden is 81. I don’t like this ageism argument," Hostin said.
She said that there were plenty of Democrats that have "verve and energy" and noted she would like to see Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., run because "he's really pretty to look at."
She also said she would like a presidential ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying that their "brain power alone would obliterate" Trump or DeSantis.
"Ronald Reagan had Alzheimers as a younger man," Goldberg claimed, adding that its more about "what you can get done."
"Biden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House," Axelrod also told the New York Times. "And part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality."
Biden was 78-years-old when elected president in 2020, making him the oldest in U.S. history, and would be 82-years-old by the time the next president is selected.
