Alyssa Farah Griffin says it's 'remarkable' voters don't see Trump's age as issue: 'He's not as sharp'
Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin called it “remarkable” that voters have greater concern about President Biden’s age than former President Trump, arguing he is “not as sharp” as he was in 2016.
Asked by CNN’s John Berman on Monday how much Trump “missed” or mixed up facts when she worked in his administration, Griffin, who has emerged as a vocal Republican critic of the former president, said, “I have said this before, he is not as sharp as he was in 2016. And not even as sharp as he was in 2020.”
“For some reason, that doesn’t necessarily come across to voters in the same way but Donald Trump is not the strongest fighter that Republicans could have right now,” Griffin added.
“And it’s remarkable how much voters don’t see the age as also an issue because he is only three and a half years younger than President Joe Biden. But there’s something about the way they carry themselves that is just seen very differently.”
Griffin, now a co-host on ABC’s “The View,” said that while Trump, 77, has “never been a super articulate or eloquent person,” he is now “consistently” mixing up names of high-profile leaders.
Over the weekend, Trump again confused former President Obama for Biden.
“I mean, it’s gotten worse, it hasn’t gotten better. He’s not nearly as sharp as he was,” said Farah Griffin, who noted Trump's remarks from a rally last month, when he appeared to mix up former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley — his main GOP primary challenger — and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) while discussing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
At 81, Biden is the oldest sitting U.S. president, and if reelected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term. Biden's age has been a subject of discussion for much of his presidency, with talk increasing after the release of a special counsel report that described him as "an elderly man with a poor memory.
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found 73 percent of registered voters polled strongly or somewhat believed Biden is too old to be an effective president, including 56 percent of Democrats. About 43 percent of registered voters said the same about Trump.
Biden pushed back on the swirling concerns about his age last week and said what really matters is “how old your ideas are.”
“You got to take a look at the other guy, he’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” Biden said last week on NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” in reference to Trump’s recent speech in which he appeared to mix up his wife, Melania Trump, with Mercedes Schlapp, the wife of American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp and a former aide to Trump.