Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who is a potential future Republican presidential nominee, teased President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for not wanting to debate during the 2024 election cycle. Biden claimed to the Associated Press that he and Biden were afraid voters would notice their advanced age.
Come November, the Biden team has not committed to taking part in debates with Trump.
“We will have those conversations,” said the president’s deputy campaign manager at a press conference last December, who noted that Trump refused to participate in GOP primary debates this cycle.
Trump has stated that he desires to and will debate Biden under any conditions, but his disdain for the Presidential Debate Commission and decision not to participate in GOP primary debates has raised questions over whether he might ultimately bow out.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is a sharp critic of both Biden and Trump and brought the heat in his comments to the AP.
“This is a democracy of the United States of America. We need to hear from the people who want to be president and see if they have mental capacity and see what their positions are on issues,” argued Romney before adding, “It’s one thing to say you passed a competency test. But it’s another thing to actually have the American people listen to you debate.”
“People always find excuses for why they don’t want to debate. But you got a couple of old guys that don’t want to have people see how old they are,” he concluded.
In 2020, there were two debates between Biden and Trump. However, the third debate was cancelled due to disagreements about how Trump’s contraction of Covid-19 should affect the forum.
According to an ABC News poll released on Sunday, 86% of the country believes that 81-year-old Biden is too old to serve a second term, and 62% feel the same way about 77-year-old Trump.
