Like a provocation. This Saturday, October 12, Vice President and Democratic candidate for the White House Kamala Harris released a report containing details about her health and medical history. A publication far from being trivial: if the 59-year-old candidate’s file shows good health, her campaign teams would actually like the debate to move towards the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, aged 78. Kamala Harris would thus publish her medical report to convene a new examination of Trump’s health and advanced age, suggests the American channel ABC News.
Harris “remains in excellent health,” his doctor, Dr. Joshua Simmons, said in a letter released Saturday. “She possesses the physical and mental resilience to successfully discharge the duties of the presidency, including those of chief executive, head of state and commander in chief.” A few months ago, questions about Joe Biden’s age, toughness and mental acuity dominated his campaign, until the 81-year-old president threw in the towel in July after a disastrous debate facing to the former Republican president. Since then, the subject has remained relatively little discussed in the media. And has no notable influence on the polls, which are still close, despite the strong age difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. This was without counting on the campaign teams of the Democratic candidate.
A senior Harris adviser told ABC that they viewed the release of the vice-president’s medical report as an opportunity to highlight how little is known about Trump’s health. The former president refused to release his medical records during his first campaign in 2016, and despite repeatedly promising to do so during this campaign, he has yet to do so. The American press also regularly recalls that the billionaire is widely criticized by his adversaries for not having been transparent about his health when he was president.
More and more disjointed speeches
The former president, with an undeniable physical presence, has a very sustained pace of travel and meetings. But he does not show fatigue comparable to that which often marked Joe Biden. However, a recent article from New York Times suggested that Donald Trump’s increasingly disjointed and angry speeches, particularly during his rallies, were putting the question of age back at the center of the debate. Through a very in-depth examination of Donald Trump’s rallies, interviews, statements and messages on social media, the New York daily noted signs of change since he first entered the political scene. , in 2015. According to a computer analysis of the New York TimesTrump’s speeches last an average of 82 minutes, up from 45 minutes in 2016. Proportionately, he uses 13% more crutch terms like “always” and “never” than he did eight years ago, which some experts consider a sign of advanced age.
Now, less than a month before the November 5 election, the roles could well be reversed. Donald Trump has often attacked his Democratic rival Joe Biden over his age, calling him a “sleeping Joe”, “sick” and “weak”. But today, it’s Kamala Harris, who can boast of being about twenty years younger than him. An argument which has recently served its allies. The Democratic candidate’s running mate, Tim Walz, described Trump’s performance during the televised debate on September 10 as that of “an almost 80-year-old man raising his fist at the clouds.” While former President Bill Clinton joked during his speech at the Democratic National Convention: “Two days ago I turned 78…And the only personal vanity I want to assert is that I’m still younger than Donald Trump.”
For the moment, his age does not seem to be decisive in the vote. A Gallup opinion poll published on October 10 indicates that 41% of voters consider the Republican too old to be president. The percentage hasn’t changed much since Kamala Harris entered the race (37% in June).