White House lashes out at media over coverage of president's age

Many of them pointed to Biden's recent trip to East Asia, contending that his busy schedule provided evidence that he is in fact able to handle his duties.

By Ben Whedon

Published: September 11, 2023 5:34pm

The White House on Monday is fuming over increased media speculation as to President Joe Biden's health, age and fitness for office.

At age 80, Biden is the oldest president in American history and Americans appear increasingly concerned about the age of their commander-in-chief.

In response, a litany of White House aides appear to have mounted a concerted effort to fight back against the prevailing narrative of Biden's frailty, The Hill reported. Many of them pointed to Biden's recent trip to East Asia, contending that his busy schedule provided evidence that he is in fact able to handle his duties.

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt took exception on Saturday to an Axios article suggesting Biden and Trump were waging "dueling basement campaigns."

"President Biden is literally circumnavigating the entire globe in 4 days leading a bunch of critical meetings to make the US more prosperous and secure," he declared. "Over the past several weeks he protected a million acres of wilderness around the Grand Canyon, visited victims of the Maui wildfires and FL hurricane, held Bidenomics events on new manufacturing sites in NM, WI and PA and kept his promise to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower Rx costs, gave interviews on extreme weather and Israel and is holding another press conference this evening. The basement must be a new sort of carry on package."

Seemingly in response to the same "basement" accusation, Deputy Communications Director Herbie Ziskend on Saturday posted a comprehensive schedule for Biden on Sept. 11 with the comment "hanging in the basement."

"Here on Earth, we saw the President start his day in India at the G20, end the day in Hanoi with a substantive & detailed 40-minute press conference at 9pm, and continue to answer questions—including from [CNN] -as he departed. What will be enough?" deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton posted in response to a CNN article on the abrupt end of Biden press conference.

Biden has concluded his trip in Alaska, where he attended a 9/11 memorial event.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.