5 months ago
27
NEW DELHI: US first lady
Jill Biden
declared her husband, President
Joe Biden
, as fully capable of handling a second term in office, despite recent concerns over his age and performance. Speaking at a rally in Reno,
Nevada
, on Friday, Jill Biden addressed a crowd of
seniors
, urging them to vote to prevent a repeat of the 2016
outcome. Her comments came after President Biden, 81, experienced a moment of confusion during a Juneteenth celebration and appeared disoriented at G7 summit in Italy.
“We can’t wake up on November 6 like we did in 2016 terrified of the future ahead of us,” Jill Biden emphasized, referring to the unexpected victory of Donald
Trump
in 2016.
“This election is about the character of the person leading our country,” she added. Her comments came after President Biden, 81, experienced a moment of confusion during a Juneteenth celebration and appeared disoriented at a recent G7 summit in Italy.
Nevada is home to approximately 600,000 seniors, representing nearly a third of the 1.9 million eligible voters in the state. Recent polling indicates a competitive race, with former President Donald Trump, 78, currently leading Biden by five points. Trump previously lost the state to Biden in the 2020 election.
Jill Biden returned from Europe earlier in the week to attend the conclusion of her son Hunter Biden’s felony gun charge trial. She launched the “Seniors for Biden-Harris” tour with events in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, aimed at mobilizing the senior voting demographic through activities like bingo and pickleball, and through rallies and phone banks. The campaign hopes these efforts will energize support for Biden, who would be 86 by the end of a potential second term.
“Joe Biden is a healthy, wise, 81-year-old, ready and willing to get to work every day to make our future better,” Jill Biden told the Reno audience, reiterating similar sentiments from her speeches in Duluth. She praised her husband’s effectiveness, saying, “Joe isn’t just one of the most effective presidents of our lives, in spite of his age, but because of it.”
Meanwhile, actress and activist Jane Fonda, 86, introduced Jill Biden to the crowd. Fonda strongly criticized Trump, calling him “a convicted felon who wouldn’t even qualify for a security clearance for God’s sakes, we absolutely cannot get him again.” Known for her controversial visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and her support for communist troops, Fonda also expressed concerns about environmental issues, noting, “Houses are so exposed to just unrelenting sun,” and lamenting the lack of tree protection and solar panels in Reno. She warned that outdoor workers are at risk of fatal heat exposure as temperatures could exceed 110 degrees.
Fonda further accused Trump of unethical behavior, claiming, “Trump invited all the executives of the big oil companies and he sat down and looked them straight in the eye and he said, ‘If you give me $1 billion, I will kill all the regulations, the environmental regulations that you don’t like, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.’” Fonda did not provide evidence for her assertion.
