Mumbling Biden and bombastic Trump are frozen forever in gifs from the first presidential debate. Two rambling geriatrics are blundering their way to arguably the world’s most powerful post
American presidential elections are sometimes won, or lost, in what is later perceived as a single moment of brilliance — or blunder. In the 1984 presidential debate, an ageing Ronald Reagan — in hindsight a youthful 73 at the time compared to the 160 years split between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — allayed concerns about his advancing years with a joke that made even his relatively young opponent, Walter Mondale, 55, laugh: “I will not make age an issue in this campaign because I don’t want to use my opponent’s youth and inexperience against him.”
In 1988, a solitary mistimed, mismatched image tanked Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign when he was 15 points ahead of George Bush Sr: a photo of him atop an Abrams tank, looking midget-y and fidgety.
In 1988, a solitary mistimed, mismatched image tanked Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign when he was 15 points ahead of George Bush Sr: a photo of him atop an Abrams tank, looking midget-y and fidgety.