Jon Stewart confronts CNN commentator who claims Biden is 'old'

“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart accused CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers of “gaslighting” by insisting that President Joe Biden's problem is age rather than his cognitive ability during a podcast Thursday.

Many Democrats have been calling that Biden withdraw from the presidential race after his debate performance against former President Donald Trump raised concerns about the president's cognitive ability. Stewart said Sellers to “The weekly show with Jon Stewart” that the commenter is not being direct in suggesting that Biden's problem is simply “age” and not “cognitive decline.”

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'Stop Gaslighting': Jon Stewart confronts CNN commentator who claims Biden is just 'old' pic.twitter.com/GwLe7OMU1T

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 12, 2024

“I think you're selling the most fundamental aspect of people coming to someone who, I'll be perfectly honest with you, I don't know of a job interview that you could have gone to and delivered the performance that was delivered. Joe Biden and he got a job,” Stewart told Sellers. “And I'm not talking about the presidency; I'm talking cashier at Home Depot, like a job that you wouldn't think, “Okay, this is the hardest job in the entire world.”

“The only problem with that, John, the only problem with framing him as such is that you're discounting everything he's accomplished in the first three and a half years,” Sellers retorted.

Stewart told Sellers that he was wrong and that Biden is campaigning for another term, not for what he did in his first term.

“But nothing happens in a vacuum … My friends on the left, we just want to magnify what we saw in the debate, which is fine, I get it. We're talking about age,” Sellers said. “But I'm also talking about past successes and the threat down the road. … We do ourselves a disservice by saying, 'Our guy's old.' We know that. He's shuffling. We know that.”

“It's not old … Bakari. It's cognitive decline. It's not just age; it's cognitive decline,” Stewart said.

Former Obama aide Jon Favreau chimed in to say that even if Biden is in cognitive decline, he has “an inability to communicate,” which is a requirement for a presidential candidate.

“Or assure us that this is how we operate in this environment. But to suggest that that discounts three and a half years, it doesn't,” Stewart continued. “But it gives you a window into the next four. And if you look at his performance in 2020 compared to his performance in 2024, there is an inexorable decline. It is undeniable. So what I don't understand is, okay, well, it stays, but deal with it head on. Stop pretending, stop turning on the gas.”

Sellers said it's “fine” to talk about Biden's cognitive ability and not “gaslight” it, but suggested it's more important to focus on Trump, whom he called “a fucking monster.” .

“That's what we're worried about. We're worried about the monster,” Favreau said.

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