Ainsley Earhardt was taken aback when she encountered comments made by an octogenarian restaurant patron in Urbandale, Iowa, who openly criticized First Lady Jill Biden.
The Fox & Friends program dispatched Earhardt to the Machine Shed, a restaurant located in a strategically significant early primary state. This particular Friday morning program accommodates to a primarily Fox News-affiliated audience, making it a self-selected group of people who are extremely ardent about the network. These patrons’ political criticism aligns closely with the right-of-center perspective of Fox & Friends.
However, Donna displayed distinguishing characteristics that distinguished her from others.
The individual disregarded Earhardt’s inquiry regarding her primary concerns about the economy and chose to direct her criticism toward President Joe Biden’s age. Moreover, she singled out the First Lady, whom she appears to blame for the president’s portrayal in the media, particularly on Fox News, as one might surmise.
Donna began by expressing concern about her age, highlighting the fact that she is five days younger than the president. “One of the things that bothers me is I’m five days younger than the president. And I said I gimp — my walk has a gimp, and I forget things once in a while.”
After establishing her expertise in geriatrics, she proceeded to articulate her political viewpoint. “I feel that [Biden] has been put out before people and been made fun of all the time,” she explained. “And I would hope to think that my family would not do that to me. And I feel that Jill Biden should be made to feel very badly for what she’s doing.”
In response to the emotionally evocative yet cutting remarks, Earhardt expressed her incredulity with the word “wow.”
She subsequently enquired about Donna’s opinion regarding the most qualified person to undertake the role of Democratic candidate. In response, Donna acknowledged, “That I don’t know. I think what I’d like to see is because they, the Democrats, don’t like him, I’d like to see the Kennedy running. I think that’s kind of fun to see what they’re going to be doing this year.”
The observation that Donna is the same age as a president who continues to confront age-related criticism lent a measure of significance to her remarks. The manner in which she conveyed her critique with empathy reminiscent of a grandmother from Iowa intensified its impact.
Donna conveyed a succinct message about Biden and the political climate despite being allotted a short quantity of television time.
Donna and Biden are the same age, but she is in much superior mental condition than he is.
Even “fake-news” CNN has been reporting on Joe’s age issues and horrible showings in the polls.
On Thursday the network noted:
President Joe Biden faces continued headwinds from broadly negative job ratings overall, widespread concerns about his age and decreased confidence among Democratic-aligned voters, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.
There is no clear leader in a potential rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, who is widely ahead in the GOP primary. And nearly half of registered voters (46%) say that any Republican presidential nominee would be a better choice than Biden in 2024.
Meanwhile, hypothetical matchups also suggest there would be no clear leader should Biden face one of the other major GOP contenders, with one notable exception: Biden runs behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Since Biden announced his reelection bid earlier this year – where he framed the 2024 contest as a fight against Republican extremism – his approval ratings have remained mired below the mid-40s, similar to Trump’s standing in 2019, and several points below Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at this point ahead of their reelection campaigns.
Still, Biden’s prospective opponents face challenges of their own: 44% of voters feel any Democratic candidate would be a better choice than Trump. Among the full public, both Biden’s and Trump’s favorability ratings stand at just 35%.
CNN continued with the bad news for the octogenarian:
Views of Biden’s performance in office and on where the country stands are deeply negative in the new poll. His job approval rating stands at just 39%, and 58% say that his policies have made economic conditions in the US worse, up 8 points since last fall. Seventy percent say things in the country are going badly, a persistent negativity that has held for much of Biden’s time in office, and 51% say government should be doing more to solve the nation’s problems.
Perceptions of Biden personally are also broadly negative, with 58% saying they have an unfavorable impression of him. Fewer than half of Americans, 45%, say that Biden cares about people like them, with only 33% describing him as someone they’re proud to have as president. A smaller share of the public than ever now says that Biden inspires confidence (28%, down 7 percentage points from March) or that he has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president (26%, down 6 points from March), with those declines driven largely by Democrats and independents.
When CNN turns on you, you know things are bad.