Van Jones: Biden should stress in speech that a ‘good grandpa’ is better than a ‘bad grandpa’

CNN analyst Van Jones suggested Monday that President Biden push back against concerns around his age in this week’s State of The Union address by emphasizing that a “good grandpa” is better than “a bad grandpa.”

“Unfortunately he cannot get any younger, so there’s not much they can do about it. He has a chance this week though, to remind people sometimes having a good grandpa on the case is better than having a bad grandpa on the case,” Jones said of the president during an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. “And that’s really … he’s got to lean into it.”

Jones was seemingly referencing former President Trump, the GOP primary front-runner and likely Republican nominee for the White House, whom he has criticized on numerous occasions.

He was responding to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that found 73 percent of registered voters polled strongly or somewhat believed Biden, 81, is too old to be an effective president, including 56 percent of Democrats. About 43 percent of registered voters said the same about Trump. 

Biden is the oldest sitting U.S. president, and if reelected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term. Trump, 77, is about three-and-a-half years younger.

The president’s age, mental acuity and ability to carry out a second term has been a large subject of discussion for much of his presidency. Concerns were fueled further by the release of a special counsel report last month that described him as “an elderly man with a poor memory.”

“He’s got to own it. He is an older guy, but he’s an older guy who’s a good guy,” Jones said Monday. “He’s a good man, he’s done well for the country and he’s got a track record to run on.”

“But you know, anybody who says it’s not a real issue or it’s just something that the media is making up, that’s not true,” he added.

Biden last week pushed back on the concerns over his age, arguing what really matters is “how old your ideas are.”