Biden's memory is failing. So is Trump's. The question is whose flaws are more dangerous

WASHINGTON— In a career that spans more than half a century, President Joe Biden has long been known all too well for mangling words, names and dates in verbal pratfalls known, perhaps gently, as gaffes.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, then-President Donald Trump publicly charged that Biden, then only 77, was suffering from "dementia." The insult didn't stick; Biden campaigned effectively enough to defeat Trump that November.

But the controversy over the president's mental fitness has only intensified as he has sought a second term.

Biden's age, as the oldest man ever to serve as president, inescapably weighs on voters' minds.

Thursday's report from special counsel Robert Hur deepened Biden's political problem by painting a more damaging official picture of the president than had been seen before.

The report said Biden, now 81, came across as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

That may have been the nicest thing it said.

In his interviews with Hur, Biden had difficulty remembering which years he had served as vice president and what year his son Beau had died, the report said. His memory of a White House debate over Afghanistan, a subject on which he was once passionate, was hazy.

In response to one question, the president replied: "If it was 2013, when did I stop being vice president?"

Biden and his aides responded to the report with fury.

"I know what the hell I'm doing," the president told reporters a few hours after the report's release.

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, called Hur's decision to include the details of Biden's memory gaps "gratuitous" and "politically motivated" — a talking point other Democrats repeated throughout the day. (The special counsel is a Republican who was originally appointed by Trump.)

Aides suggested that Biden might not have been at his best when he met with Hur. They said he was focused on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which had occurred only a few days before the interviews.

Still, as Biden demonstrated, the issue of his fitness threatens to surface every time he appears in public. On Thursday, in the news conference he called to defend his mental acuity, he misidentified the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico.

The question is present on both sides of the presidential campaign, since Trump, who turns 78 in June, would be the second-oldest man ever to win a major party's nomination.

And Trump, too, often appears to suffer from memory lapses.

He recently confused Nikki Haley, his last remaining challenger for the GOP nomination, with Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House.

He referred to the president of Hungary as the president of Turkey.

He bragged last year that he had defeated President Obama in the 2016 election, when his opponent was Hillary Clinton, and claimed that he had won all 50 states that year (he won 30).

He warned that Biden might lead the country into "World War Two."

Polls suggest that most voters perceive Trump as more vigorous than Biden. An NBC News poll this week showed Trump ahead by 16 points on the question of who is more competent and effective.

In a YouGov survey released Friday, 47% of voters said that Biden's health and age would "severely limit his ability to fulfill his duties" if he were reelected in November. Only 32% said the same about Trump.

But neither candidate emerged from that survey a clear winner.

The YouGov poll found that roughly the same share of Americans thought that either Biden or Trump would be fit to serve another term — just over one-third in each case. One in five said that neither would be fit.

Trump has glaring flaws beyond his memory problems. He is the undisputed king of presidential mendacity; the Washington Post has estimated that he made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his four years in the White House.

He frequently expresses admiration (or perhaps envy) for dictators such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump has also argued that a president should be immune from federal laws, and that the provisions of the Constitution that allowed Biden to win the 2020 election should be "terminated."

And, of course, he faces a stack of indictments in four separate criminal cases, including one for refusing to turn over classified documents after leaving the White House. Although Hur criticized Biden's memory, he also made a point of contrasting Biden's cooperation with Trump's stonewalling.

"After being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite," Hur's report said. "According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it."

So yes, both candidates have memory problems. The more important question is: Whose judgment is sounder?

Biden's response to reporters' questions about his fitness sounded straightforward: "Watch me."

Voters are entitled to respond: "OK, show us."

But the president and his aides have carefully rationed his public exposure.

He hasn't done many town halls, an exercise he once enjoyed. He's ducked most requests for media interviews. He even passed up a chance for a nationally broadcast interview at Monday's Super Bowl, an opportunity most presidents take to reach a gigantic audience.

Several years ago, I asked Biden what strategy he relied on to bounce back from a gaffe.

"Own it," he said.

But in response to Hur's report, he angrily denied that he had any serious memory problems.

"They don't know what they're talking about," he said of the prosecutors.

But he might be better off if he took his own advice — and acknowledged his fumbles.

After all, the voters' choice is between two elderly men with poor memories — and only one of them doesn't respect the Constitution.

The question isn't whose aging memory is sharper. It's whose flaws are more dangerous.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 02/07/24: Will Biden's 'Goldilocks' airstrikes against Iran-backed militias work?
• 12/06/23: Will Joe survive leftists --- and Gaza?
• 11/22/23: Don't let Xi and Biden's agreements fool you
• 11/08/23: Biden says the US must help Israel and Ukraine succeed --- he's staking his reputation on it
• 11/02/23: Today's wars and the international order
• 10/25/23: Biden says the US must help Israel and Ukraine succeed --- he's staking his reputation on it
• 10/05/23: Biden and Trump want working-class votes. The economy may decide who gets them
• 09/13/23: Zelensky is coming to Washington to ask for more Ukraine aid. Congress should say yes
• 09/13/23: Voters think Biden's too old to run again. Can he persuade them that they're wrong?
• 08/23/23: Canada is recruiting immigrants from Silicon Valley to boost its economy. It might work
• 07/05/23: Bizarre standoff with Wagner Group's Prigozhin weakens Putin. But don't count him out
• 06/27/23: Blinken tried to build a floor under US-China relations. He may have to keep doing it
• 05/09/23: With just weeks left to strike a deal, it's time to worry about the debt ceiling
• 05/02/23: A centrist, third-party alternative for 2024 is a nice idea --- but a nightmare in practice
• 04/25/23: Trump seems to have a firm grip on GOP polls --- but his rivals think they can do better
• 04/04/23: Ukraine is counting on its spring offensive against Russia. Biden has a stake in it too
• 03/22/23: Silicon Valley Bank's collapse may be a blessing in disguise
• 03/07/23: DeSantis wants to displace Trump as the GOP's 2024 nominee. But he has hurdles to overcome
• 02/21/23: Biden's 2024 presidential campaign harks back to past Dem triumphs
• 02/14/23: Chinese balloon is gone, but it's still making US-China relations harder to manage
• 01/24/23: Biden said the pandemic is over. But, aw shucks!, the pandemic just won't cooperate
• 01/17/23: The war in Ukraine could become a long, frozen conflict. Are we ready for that?
• 01/10/23: The real winner from the House fight?
• 12/28/22: Why Trump will never go to jail over Jan. 6
• 12/20/22: Democracy around the world is looking a little healthier, at least next to the alternative
• 12/13/22: Biden's policy makes Ukraine fight by rules Russia doesn't follow
• 12/09/22: Iran protests have shoved the nuclear issue off center stage. It will be back
• 09/20/22: Biden sent the wrong message on COVID. He can still fix it
• 09/20/22: Putin's brutality in Ukraine can get worse. Get ready for a chilly winter
• 09/13/22: China's economy is slowing, its population aging. That could make it dangerous
• 06/28/22: To deter China on Taiwan, Biden needs to reassure
• 05/24/22: India has become a US partner in countering China --- a limited partner, that is
• 05/11/22: Slow Joe's premature self-congratulation won't help the US in Ukraine
• 05/03/22: Can the US deter Putin from using his arsenal of battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine?
• 04/08/22:Biden's budget is big. Dems will vote to make it bigger
• 03/22/22: Ukraine's resistance offers a useful lesson to Taiwan
• 03/15/22: China wanted to appear neutral between Russia and Ukraine. It isn't
• 02/22/21: Who needs an invasion? Putin's offensive against Ukraine has been underway for a long time
• 02/09/21: If Putin wants an exit from the Ukraine crisis, the offramps are open
• 11/30/21: Biden wants to focus on China. Putin has another idea
• 11/23/21: Our oldest president just turned 79. He might have something to learn from the second-oldest
• 11/16/21: Can Biden and Xi talk their way out of a slide into conflict?
• 10/13/21: Congress has a chance to take bipartisan action on Facebook. Don't let it slip away
• 09/24/21: Can Dems win on crime issues with murders rising? Biden thinks so
• 06/29/21: Can Dems win on crime issues with murders rising? Biden thinks so
• 04/20/21:Afghanistan's war -- and America's stakes in it -- won't end when the troops leave
• 03/31/21: Here's why our new cold war with China could be a good thing
• 02/25/21: Sen. Joe Manchin drives Dems crazy. Here's why they need more senators like him
• 08/11/20: Goodbye to traditional political conventions --- and good riddance

• 05/19/20: We won't end COVID-19 with 'test and trace'
• 04/07/20: Joe Biden is stuck in his basement. It just might help him win
• 03/10/20: Where did Bernie's revolution go wrong?
• 03/05/20: Dems give Trump good reason to smile
• 02/18/20: Who will be the Un-Bernie?
• 02/11/20: Buttigieg wants to be the Goldilocks candidate. It just might work
• 01/21/20: The world according to Bernie
• 09/04/19: Trump's draft deal with the Taliban looks ugly, but it may be the best we can get
• 04/22/19: Something is missing from media-fawning Buttigieg campaign --- his stance on major issues
• 03/14/19: Biden, If He Runs, Will Face A Cruel Irony

Doyle McManus
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

Doyle McManus is an American journalist, columnist, who appears often on Public Broadcasting Service's Washington Week.