Trump targets longtime rival Biden, though similarities between the two presidents stand out

The US president is grappling with the same affordability pressures and the unavoidable passage of time.

He was supposed to promote the economy, but he couldn’t resist taking aim at an old enemy. “Which is better: Sleepy Joe or Crooked Joe?” Donald Trump teased supporters in Pennsylvania this week, still playing with the nicknames of his predecessor, Joe Biden. “Usually, Crooked Joe wins. I’m surprised because to me he’s like a sleepy dog.”

Reveling in Biden’s lethargy, the US president and his supporters seemed blissfully unaware of a rich irony: the 79-year-old Trump himself has been spotted sleeping in various meetings recently.

The unlikely camaraderie between the two men didn’t end there. Tuesday’s event kicked off a Trump roadshow, aimed at reassuring voters that the US economy was in safe hands despite evidence of his pocketbook. It had an uneasy echo of Biden’s journey to become a champion of “Bidennomics,” which did not end well for him.

At every turn, Trump has tried to distance himself from his Democratic rival, accusing him of fueling inflation and illegal immigration and obstructing the process of withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Yet now Republicans find themselves shouldering the equal burden of the affordability crisis and the unpredictable march of time.

Political analyst and NewsNation contributor Kurt Bardella said it’s hard to see the similarities in terms of both their age and how it manifests itself, and certainly the state of the economy.

Trump has been appointed to the role that Joe Biden was supposed to play and is apparently trying to use the same script, which is to convince people that you’re not really experiencing what you’re experiencing. It’s an incredible political challenge.

Biden and Trump are the two oldest presidents in American history. The Democrat has struggled with concerns about his mental and physical health throughout his four-year term, resulting in a disastrous debate performance that led to his decision not to seek re-election. Biden’s aides have been criticized for trying to hide his frailty from the public and the media.

It has been useful political fodder for Trump, who has tried to compare Biden’s decline to his own political acumen. He has created a “Presidential Walk of Fame” at the White House where Biden is represented by an image of an autopilot. He recently said of Biden, “He sleeps all the time—during the day, at night, at the beach. I don’t sleep.”

Yet Trump is now grappling with his own health problems. In July, the White House announced that he had undergone a medical checkup after experiencing “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was diagnosed with a condition in the elderly that causes blood to pool in their veins.

The photo also showed bruises on the back of Trump’s hand, which was covered with makeup that didn’t quite match his skin tone.

This week, he wore a bandage on his right hand. On Thursday, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said this was the result of the president’s “constant handshake.”

Meanwhile, Trump admitted that he had “no idea” what part of his body he had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of in October. The White House later said that MRIs of his heart and abdomen were performed in October as part of a routine screening for men his age and that the results were “completely normal.”

Perhaps most strikingly, Trump has been seen battling sleep more than once recently. His eyelids have been drooping in the Oval Office and at cabinet meetings, as cabinet secretaries have been praising him.

Critics say Trump’s ramblings, repetitive speeches, and social media posts are further evidence of cognitive decline, as he often jumps from topic to topic with bizarre non sequiturs. However, like the erratic Biden before him, it’s not always clear what age he is and what his main character is.

Democracy Coalition Union President Reed Galen said, “He’s gotten older, which is even worse, but I don’t think any of us should be surprised by that. Where Biden has gotten older and quieter, Trump has gotten older and louder—while he’s awake.”

As Trump’s second term progresses, scrutiny is likely to intensify. The New York Times analyzed his schedule, finding that he has fewer public events and is traveling domestically far less than he did in his first year in office in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips.

The president responded on social media, claiming he is the hardest-working president in history and has a long list of accomplishments. He said he underwent a “long, thorough, and very tiring” medical examination, which included three cognitive tests that he “passed.”

He added, “The New York Times and others like to pretend that I’m ‘slowing down’ and perhaps not as smart as I once was, or that my physical health is declining, because they know it’s not true.”

The health of American presidents has long been a delicate and sometimes thorny issue between the White House and the press. Bardella, a former Republican congressional staffer who has defected to the Democrats, said, “Donald Trump and Republicans will hold Biden to the same standard they set for him.

“You don’t have the right to constantly challenge the media and accuse the media of covering up Biden’s health and mental deterioration and then walk around with someone who is definitely showing signs of aging and be surprised that the media that you created, lectured, punished, and sued is now treating you the same way.”

Both presidents began their terms in office like men in a hurry. Inheriting the Covid pandemic, Biden tried to turn the crisis into an opportunity with executive orders and the explosive implementation of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, followed by ambitious legislation on infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, and the most significant climate and clean energy investments in history.

But inflation has been on the rise since mid-2021 and rose to a 40-year high due to factors including pandemic supply-chain disruptions, stimulus-driven demand, global energy instability, and the war in Ukraine. Although the administration eventually brought inflation down to around 3%, it struggled to get the message across to public opinion.

In a speech in Chicago in 2023, Biden asserted: “Bidennomics is working … Today, the U.S. has the highest economic growth rate, leading the world’s economies since the pandemic.” But as of August 2023, only 36% of Americans approved of his handling of the economy, according to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In 2024, fact checkers faulted Biden for making false claims about inflation.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. In the 2024 presidential election and last month’s elections for governor of New Jersey and Virginia and mayor of New York, where Democrats won, the cost of living was a key issue for voters.

Government data shows that job growth has slowed during Trump’s second term, unemployment has hit a four-year high, and consumer prices have remained high, driven by his massive tariffs. He has been accused of not paying enough attention to voters who say they are struggling to make ends meet.

His 90-minute speech on Tuesday devolved into attacks on the term “affordability,” which Trump called a “hoax” used by Democrats to exaggerate the cost of living. While he acknowledged that prices are high, he insisted that the economy is booming and people are earning more.