I’ve spent the past 13 months traveling the country on the campaign trail. Whether I’m in Manchester, Des Moines, Las Vegas, Dallas, or Milwaukee, the message I hear from my generation is the same - Joe Biden is mentally and physically unfit to lead this country.
A new CNBC poll found that only 1 out of 5 voters between the ages of 18 and 34 gave Biden’s economy a favorable rating. The majority of the respondents in the poll (41%) described it as "poor.” It would be one thing if Biden had a successful record to run for re-election on, but with my generation rating his job on the economy as “poor” on top of his current mental state? The DNC must really be scratching their heads right now as the convention approaches.
While I would love for both parties’s candidates to be a little bit closer to my age, my generation have bigger things to worry about than age. Let’s address the elephant in the room: Donald Trump is no spring chicken either, but the issue isn’t with the age of either candidate. It’s about their ability to execute the most important job in the world.
In a recent NBC poll, 76% of Americans have concerns about Biden’s mental and physical fitness (not even his age - just his mental and physical fitness), including over half of Biden’s own party. That same poll found only 48% concerned about Trump’s mental and physical fitness.
Look at last week’s Special Counsel report, for example. It had nothing to do with Biden's advanced age, but instead with his mental fitness. The special counsel that Biden’s Justice Department appointed determined that he was too mentally incapacitated to be charged with a crime, so why should the American people believe he is mentally fit enough to be Commander in Chief?
The concerning part is that this was not an isolated incident. Biden has spent his entire term making blunder after blunder, and before that, he was doing the same thing on the campaign trail.
Remember when they tried to convince us that he was just coming across as awkward during the campaign because we were in a pandemic and he was an elderly man trying to Zoom from his basement? Well, we’re four years past the pandemic, and no, he’s not just "awkward." He’s senile.
Then, they tried to tell us he just had a stutter, and anybody concerned about his gaffes was being a bully. Look at last week again: a stutter doesn’t cause you to forget the years you served as second in command of the United States. A stutter doesn’t cause you to forget when your son died. And that night, when he had his emergency press conference to show the world he was sharp and fit enough to serve another 4 years, it wasn't a stutter that made him call the President of Mexico “Sisi." Which is actually the name of the President of Egypt; you know, that country on the other side of the world.
The world has watched him fall up stairs, down stairs, and on his face on a flat stage. We've been told this is because he's just clumsy. Uh huh. Maybe he's clumsy in the same sense as all the people who've fallen and can't get up.
We’re in a unique position this cycle. Our candidates are not “inexperienced” or "outsiders.” Both candidates have served 4 years in the Oval Office. The American people know the cognitive abilities of both candidates, and they are overwhelmingly choosing Trump. Why? My generation is at a turning point in our lives.
This time next year I’ll be graduating high school and preparing to head off to college. I have friends a few years ahead of me who are planning weddings, and friends a few years ahead of them who are settling into their first home with their first child. This election in November will decide the future my generation grows up in. It will decide the future my generation will raise a family in. The stake could not be higher, and this is too pivotal of a time to keep the reigns in the hands of a “well meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Brilyn Hollyhand is a 17-year-old political commentator, the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Truth Gazette, and the Co-Chair of the RNC’s Youth Advisory Council.
