Quintin Jardine's blog

I don’t like to go public with my feelings about US politics, because I have American family and friends on either side of the fence and find it better to sit on it. But …

Until tomorrow I am the same age as Donald Trump. Would I feel comfortable about running for office today? Yes. If I did and I could would I vote for myself? No.

Last night’s US debate was supposed to determine, among other things, the fitness for office of the two candidates. The general consensus is that Joe Biden failed to do that, spectacularly. Today his spinners are hard at work, claiming that it was only an off night, and that he had a cold. Maybe he did, but the job for which he is running doesn’t allow for that. The incumbent has to be on the ball seven days a week, and perform dynamically regardless of the state of his sinuses.

Whatever, the bottom line is this: the issue is not only how the candidates are now, it’s how they will be in four years time. That’s why I couldn’t responsibly vote for myself. On that basis could any elector place their security in Biden’s hands? I don’t see how.

Could they take a chance on a 78-year-old Trump, all other issues aside? If he is re-elected, halfway through his term he will be the age that Biden is now.

I’m the last guy in the world to encourage ageism, but if I was a US Democrat, I would be saying ‘Joe must go. The devil’s at the door.’

To be replaced by? That’s their business, but I would look for and have in place someone much younger, charismatic and possibly with no political back story. I can think of a couple of possibilities but for now, let’s watch that space and see what happens over the next month or so.