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Toward the end of Thursday’s debate, President Biden, 81, and former President Donald J. Trump, 78, were forced to answer a looming question: How will they allay voters’ concerns about whether they can handle the presidency as they age?
Neither answer may have been enough to allay those fears.
Biden, who has faced more persistent questions about his own mental and physical acuity, briefly touched on the concerns before changing the subject.
“I’ve been criticized for half my career as the youngest,” he said, a common refrain referring to his youth (age 30) when he first became a senator, “and now I’m the oldest. This guy is three years younger than me and much less competent.”
Biden then spent the rest of his response touting his administration’s accomplishments, including anecdotes about a visit to South Korea to boost semiconductor production in the United States.
Trump said he had excelled on cognitive tests and questioned whether Biden had similar abilities. “As long as there’s a tree that I believe to be in very good health, I’ll keep knocking on the tree,” he said.
He then bragged about his golf score, setting off one of the most bizarre exchanges of the night.
“He challenged me to a golf game,” Trump said of his opponent. “He couldn’t hit the ball 50 yards.”
“I’d love to have a driving contest with him,” Biden responded, noting that his own golf handicap while vice president was six — or six strokes typically above par. “I’d be happy to play golf with you, if you’d just carry the bag yourself. Do you think we can do that?”
“The biggest lie is that his handicap is six,” Trump said, before Biden began explaining that his handicap is eight.
“Stop acting like children,” Trump added.
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