South Carolina Democrat Trashes Elderly Politicians, Calls for Biden Sit it Out in 2024: Our Country is Being ‘Run By a Geriatric Oligarchy’
South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham (D) said President Joe Biden should not seek reelection as he bashed the “geriatric oligarchy” in charge of the country.
The former congressman appeared on CNN’s New Day to talk about his new campaign video where laments that “Our country and our state are being run by a geriatric oligarchy.”
“The folks who are making a career out of politics are making a mess of our country,” Cunningham says in the video. “That’s why it is time to put term limits and age limits on politicians.”
After John Berman ran the clip and welcomed Cunningham to the show, he noted that Biden will turn 80 later this year, so he asked Cunningham “Do you think he’s too old to run for re-election?”
“We look at the White House and see President Biden, we think about what the future is going to look like and a new generation of leadership,” Cunningham said. “If President Biden were here with me right now and asking my opinion, whether or not he should run for another term, or whether he should step aside and allow a new generation of leadership to emerge, I would tell him the latter.”
Berman asked Cunningham the question a second time, and Cunningham finally acquiesced.
“Yeah, I think we need a new generation of leadership to emerge,” Cunningham said.
He added:
Democrats have a very deep bench, and it is time to allow a new generation to emerge, and new talent. President Biden told us himself that he was just a bridge. We’re all in a car driving across the bridge and it is time to have the discussion, what is on the other side of the bridge? What does the future look like? I think we need to have a new vision, new leadership. This isn’t about personal about Biden, but he’ll be 82 by the time of the next election. If he served out a second term, he’ll be 86 years old. I’m not sure if any of us know any 86-year-olds who should be running the entire country.
Cunningham declined to say how he thinks Biden’s age has affected his leadership, even as he stuck to his point that Democrats need a new generation to replace the “geriatric oligarchy.” The interview went on with Cunningham being pressed on whether he thinks House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and Governor Henry McMaster (R-SC) should retire along with Biden.
The conversation comes as Democrats have expressed concerns about their 2022 midterm prospects, and whether it would be a good idea for Biden to seek reelection. Former senior Obama adviser David Axelrod also recently drew intrigue when he spoke to The New York Times and warned that Biden’s age would be a “major issue” down the line.
Watch above, via CNN.
