The Atlantic claimed on Monday that President Donald Trump has not received “the same kind of scrutiny” as former President Joe Biden regarding his age and stamina.
“When Donald Trump took the oath of office last January, he was the oldest president to begin a term, clocking in at 78 years and 220 days,” Jonathan Lemire began his article titled “A Different Kind of Fading President.” “He replaced the man who formerly held that title, Joe Biden, who had dropped out of the race after it became quite obvious to the entire country that he had aged too much, too quickly.”
He continued, “But as Trump himself grows older—traveling less, switching to more comfortable shoes, and seeming to nod off during meetings—his age isn’t getting the same kind of scrutiny.”
Lemire acknowledged that the Biden administration “chided” reporters who would write about the former president’s age and suggested that the initial “background” status of Biden’s age was because of White House pushback.
“Biden’s team relentlessly pushed back against worried murmurings about his age and ability to handle the responsibilities of the presidency, and, for a while, the storyline was mostly relegated to the background. Democrats who had concerns bit their tongue. The president had enough good days to allow his aides to try to dismiss the narrative as a right-wing talking point, while encouraging allies—and some in the media—to look the other way,” he wrote.
Lemire continued, “But then Biden’s deficiencies burst into the open with his faltering, confused performance in a general-election debate that was followed by a wave of recriminations and finger-pointing that continues among Democrats and journalists to this day.”
He argued that in light of Trump’s more frequent social media posts, ongoing health scandals and scaled-back domestic travels, there should be more questions regarding the president’s health as he nears his 80th birthday.
In a statement with Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson defended Trump’s stamina and called out legacy media for covering up Biden’s “serious mental and physical decline.”
“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Lemire for comment.
Several commentators on X criticized the piece, arguing that members of the media, including Lemire, willingly ignored Biden’s health and stamina until his 2024 debate with Trump.
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“Left out of the Left’s shameless ‘Trump is losing it’ shtick is that Trump grants the media access CONSTANTLY. The Left wants to punish him for it. They were never punished for hidin’ Biden. Well, unless you count Trump winning again,” Newsbusters executive editor Tim Graham wrote.
Outkick writer Ian Miller commented, “What scrutiny did Biden get for his age? Every time people brought up videos of his obvious, rapid mental decline, the media called it ‘cheap fakes’ or conspiracy theories. It wasn’t until the debate happened that they knew he would lose the election and decided to force him out.”
“Jonathan Lemire was sitting on set when Joe Scarborough looked directly into a camera and said ‘I’m about to tell you the truth, and F you if you can’t handle the truth. This is the best version of Biden ever.’ That was in March of 2024. Joe Biden would be out of the race 3 months later. This isn’t going to work,” conservative commentator Stephen Miller wrote.
“What color do you think the sky is on their planet?” radio host Derek Hunter remarked.
Lemire previously criticized the New York Post’s June 2024 coverage of viral videos that featured Biden appearing to wander aimlessly at a G-7 Summit during a segment on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” During his comments, he echoed then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s description of the videos as “cheap fakes.”
“That’s the problem here that the Biden campaign but also those of us in the media are going to have to grapple with between now and November because the speed of these fakes only is increasing,” Lemire said.