What Happens When We Lose Our House in the November 2016 Elections: How Did President Donald J. Trump Win His First Presidential Election?

Editor’s Note: Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of 24 books, including, “The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment.” To follow him, you must use his account on the social media site, jlianzelizer. His views are his own in this commentary. There is more opinion on CNN.

Democrats did well in the elections and that could make up for some of the doubts about Biden. As of early Friday afternoon, Democrats still have a slim chance of keeping their House majority and a much better chance of holding onto their Senate majority.

Michigan and Pennsylvania were places that Democrats did well in. Many of the election deniers running for secretary of state or governor lost. Even in states where Democrats were walloped, such as in New York, there were bright spots, including Gov. Kathy Hochul’s victory over the Trump-endorsed Republican Lee Zeldin.

The outcome was a surprise to both parties. Since World War II the party of the president has usually performed poorly in the first election of the new administration, losing 26 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate. Republicans lost 40 seats in the House in the year that Donald Trump was president. Democrats lost 63 in the House in 2010 under Barack Obama, and 52 in 1994 under Bill Clinton.

Democrats have a chance to be in better shape on Capitol Hill than many expected, and it’s bad news for Trump who had been planning on announcing his run for the presidency this month. The damage that Trump and his candidates inflicted on the GOP will create significant concern about his being at the top of the ticket once again. It is losing that irritates Republican power brokers the most. More Republicans are going to be thinking about who to rally around in the next presidential election since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a good chance of winning. The 2010 mid-terms gave a blow to the former president.

But people around Biden suggest, what he was talking about was not just getting Donald Trump out of the White House but getting past Trump and Trumpism. Advisers say that is what the logic around a 2024 run boils down to: Making the case that the only thing worse than an 82-year-old president is a Republican one.

Voters had vivid memories of his first term when he was the outsider. Perhaps most importantly, Republicans have seen the losses he brought to the party in 2020 and 2022. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida is one of the potential Republican opponents who can do Trumpism in a way that is politically effective and does not carry the same kind of risks.

In the general election, the political strategy has been to move to the center. The tone and substance of the State of the Union proved that’s exactly what Biden plans to do in the run up to 2024. He can only hope that his opponents are yelling from their rooftop about M&M’s and woke mobs because he is focused on the kitchen table issues.

Regardless of the President’s decision, Biden may still face a challenge from within his own party, particularly given concerns about his age. There is a low chance of a major Democrat taking that step should Biden decide to run. Nonetheless, there have been a number of high-profile Democrats, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, whose names have been floated. A primary run by a formidable candidate could cause the kind of problems that then-President Jimmy Carter faced when Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts took him on in 1980, dividing the party and creating opportunities for the GOP.

Donald Trump isn’t anywhere close to done. We’ve seen how effective he can be when he unleashes his fire and fury in service of his own candidacy. He still commands intense support within the party and retains a keen sense of operating in the modern media environment. Meanwhile, DeSantis comes out of this week looking a bit like George W. Bush in 1998, when he won his gubernatorial reelection bid in a landslide two years before securing the presidency in 2000. Given his ability to appeal to the core of the Republican Party and potentially expand into new constituencies such as Latinos, he could pose a serious threat to Democrats in his ability to pull off a more polished version of Trumpism.

Joe Biden: What he Needs to Fix to Prevent a Turbulence-Driven Rerun of the White House Race in 2016

But, to garner enough support for a successful reelection campaign, Biden needs to overcome a nagging reality: that octogenarians shouldn’t seek reelection. Democrats have to worry that voters will be resistant to electing someone who will be 86 at the end of his second term. In a concerning sign for the President, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed, that within his own party and among Democratic-leaning voters, Biden’s support is weak.

Voters worry most about Biden’s age, so watching him isn’t going to make them feel better. The majority of voters don’t think that Biden should run again, after spending nearly two years watching him. So there’s that.

To many top Democratic operatives and officials looking ahead, Biden’s age is the top issue of his reelection campaign – in essence, what he’s running against, at least until a Republican nominee emerges, according to CNN’s conversations with three dozen White House aides, elected officials, leading Democratic operatives and others beginning to prepare for the race ahead.

“People feel like it’s a turbulent world that we’re living in, and it is a strength for Joe Biden to be able to point to not just years of experience in government up to this point, but more immediately his last two years in the White House being able to get things done, despite the turbulence,” said a second Biden adviser. The Republicans in the House are showing a very powerful contrast of chaos and extremists, which shows the idea that age is a benefit.

Doubts about Biden and his ability to serve a second term are a persistent problem, not a one-off from the exit polling. And one that Biden and his team need to figure out how to address – beyond just telling voters to watch him.

Even as President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump move toward a rerun of the most turbulent White House race in modern history, many voters are pining for a break from the past – and the present.

Trump was regularly winning big primaries in 2016 with between 30% and 40% of the vote in a large field. In the CNN poll, 38% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they want Trump as the nominee again. If he were the nominee, two-thirds of those said they would definitely or probably back him in the general election.

It is early. And the 2022 midterms offer a still fresh reminder that in a volatile, partisan age shadowed by crises at home and abroad, logic, history, polls and pre-race predictions months ahead of time often don’t count for much.

The race is continuing regardless of voters’ opinions. It’s important to have an accurate perception of the contender’s strengths in order to make good decisions in the early money chase. Trump is already a declared candidate, although he could use a relaunch after a tepid start, and Biden is giving every sign he plans on running, suggesting he’ll let the country know for sure early in the new year.

The poll’s findings are helped by the election in which Democrats won the Senate and Republicans took the House. The president received low approval numbers that kept him off of the campaign trail, but there were voters who were hoping for a return to the normality Biden had promised. Even though the GOP is still largely under Trump, they didn’t trust it to fix things.

The president ends the year in better shape than Trump, and appears to have gotten himself back on track. This summer, only 25% of Democrat-aligned voters wanted him to be their nominee. The figure is 40% now. It is believed that a sitting president usually has a better chance against a primary challenger than they do against someone who wants someone else.

At a time of transition, Republican politics may not be as strong as they once were. How things shake out in the next few months will be critical to Trump’s prospects. More and more Republicans are saying that it is time to move on, because of the failure of many of the ex-president’s hand-picked candidates.

The argument that Trump’s general election viability is damaged beyond repair was strengthened by the fact that he had dinner with extremists with a record of antisemitism. Trump’s so-far lackluster campaign, which looks like it was declared to make it easier for him to portray criminal probes into his conduct as persecution, isn’t convincing anyone so far.

The former president has many allies in the House, like Jim Jordan of Ohio. Paradoxically, the failure of Republicans to do better in November means that a thinner majority will be easier for extremists to manipulate as they seek to turn Republican control of half of the Capitol into a weapon to damage Biden and help Trump in 2024.

There will be a campaign to determine if there has been erosion of Trump’s base. Even if his connection to those voters isn’t enough to win the presidency, it can still carry him to his third straight nomination. It is not surprising that most Republican lawmakers don’t repudiate Trump over his comments, as they are under the sway of his supporters at home. The same can be said for House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who has found ways not to condemn Trump’s recent associations with extremists in his desperate bid to win the speaker’s gavel next month.

GOP hopefuls will see that the lowest point of the three CNN polls on the topic this year is an opening for an anti-Trump candidate. The opposition to the former president could be splintered by another big field.

As important as his program may be, the president also faced pressure to ensure a smooth performance in front of what was likely to be his largest television audience of the year. If he seeks re-election, he would be asking voters to entrust the White House to him until he is 86. Polls show that even many Democrats are concerned about his age and eager to see a younger generation rise to leadership of the party.

Politics can be important in shaping the future of the country. As we head into the new year, we have 10 important political questions that are critical in determining what will happen in Washington, DC.

Whereas the first two years of the Biden presidency were about legislating, now it’s about implementing. This is often the most difficult part of the policymaking process. Over the next two years, Americans will be feeling more of the effects of Biden’s new programs, including the Inflation Reduction Act. How well these programs are implemented will influence how voters interpret what the administration has accomplished.

Former President Donald Trump has already announced that he is running in 2024. He has started to roll out the same kind of anti-establishment vitriol, centered on the war against the world message that he deployed successfully in 2016 against a crowded field of Republican challengers. But this time may be more difficult for him because he comes to the campaign trail with more baggage than the first time around. He faces multiple investigations and the possibility that the Department of Justice will move forward with criminal charges referred to them by the House January 6 committee. (Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has diminished the investigations as politically motivated, calling them a “witch hunt.”)

The 2022 Midterm Elections: How Do We Live and Work? The Case of the 2024 Ukrainian-President vs. Supreme Court v. Wade

In the 2022 midterms, it became clear that the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade played a huge role in the success of Democrats. Many Democratic voters were energized to elect officials who would support the right of women to determine their own reproductive decisions. The Supreme Court is currently considering a number of decisions including how it will rule on a radical legal doctrine known as “independent state legislative theory” which would hand state legislative bodies power to overturn the results of an election. These and other decisions have the capacity to change the outcome of the upcoming election as well as the motivation of voters from both parties.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has had a huge impact on the United States. Inflation has many roots, but the cost of losing Russia’s oil supplies has been significant. There have been emerging partisan tensions within the US about how much support to provide Ukraine, while policymakers at the Department of Defense keep a close eye on Russia to see if desperation will drive it to, for example, attack a NATO country. And there may be more than Ukraine to consider. In international policy, we never know what is around the corner. A major crisis can flare up at any time to fundamentally reshape our national conversation.

Within a few days, public health crises can upend politics. The litmus test for elected officials will be defined by what issues are on the top of the agenda. The recent impact of Covid-19 has largely been reduced due to the successful vaccine program. And as we now see with the triple combination of Covid-19, the flu and RSV, we will not be out of the danger zone for a while. There is always the possibility that another pandemic will bring challenges into the political realm.

While the midterm elections posed a blow to most election deniers running for offices to oversee elections, election denialism remains a strong force in the GOP. There are people who are still willing to challenge the results that don’t go their way. State governments in the red category continue to insist on voting restrictions. The January 6 committee report exposed just how vulnerable our democracy remains. Even with the passage of the Electoral Count Reform Act, there are many ways in which anti-democratic forces can exert influence in 2024. The democratic system will be affected by these attacks.

The Next 2023 Presidential Campaign: A Case Study with Senator J.B. Biden and a Democratic Democrat Senator Sarah Huckabee Sanders

And of course, there are always the unexpected questions that await us. There are many things that aren’t being imagined right now so a good list about what is to come must account for them. Few predictive pieces in December 2019, after all, would have included a global pandemic.

But we can know this for certain: 2023 will be a big one, a political rollercoaster which will clarify the terms that will help determine the next president of the United States.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave a combative speech Tuesday evening in response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, drawing a sharp contrast with Biden as she delivered a series of blistering criticisms of the president.

McCarthy said that she will share a “bold vision for a better America” on Tuesday. Everyone, including President Biden, should listen carefully.

The president highlighted his priorities to the nation in his speech, and this gave the president’s opponent a major platform to speak to the country.

As a White House press secretary under former president Donald Trump, sanders was known for clashing with national reporters and for being a strong defender of his policies.

She made history last year as the first woman elected as governor of Arkansas. Her father, Republican Mike Huckabee, served as governor of the state from 1996 to 2007.

The Republicans in the House are using the position of power they have taken over the State of the Union to launch congressional oversight investigations aimed at the Biden administration.

Republican congressional leaders McCarthy and McConnell announced earlier this month that their party would be giving a rebuttal to the State of the Union.

The White House Christmas Vacation of 2018: Sarah Huckabee Sanders – The King of Eviscerating His Opponents, Paul Ryan

“During my two and a half years at the White House, I traveled on every foreign trip with the president,” she said, saying that she “will never forget” a trip that took place on December 25, 2018.

“We landed in the war-torn part of western Iraq,” Sanders said, and described a scene where hundreds of troops “who were in the fight against ISIS” had gathered in a dining hall to celebrate Christmas.

She said that they had no idea that the president and first lady would be walking into the room. Men and women from every race, religion, and region, every political party, every demographic you can imagine started chanting in perfect unison over and over and over again, “USA, USA, USA.”

After being sworn in as governor, Sanders signed a flurry of executive orders, with one targeting critical race theory “to prohibit indoctrination” in schools and another barring the use of the term “Latinx” in official state documents.

McConnell said in a statement, “Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the youngest Governor in the nation and a powerful advocate for the popular, commonsense conservative principles that will put our country back on a better course.”

The policies that Mr. Biden put forward didn’t get a lot of praise, but they could probably get a lot of bipartisan support. There were initiatives to deal with the opiate epidemic, enhance cancer research and treatment, and increase access to mental health services.

With a high-beam smile, Biden is the king of eviscerating his opponents. You could ask Paul Ryan, who experienced it in a 2012 vice presidential debate.

A Scrimmage between the Vice President, Mr. Biden, and the House Republican Caucus on Tuesday night: Where Do We Stand? What Have We Learned?

Marty Walsh, who was chosen to stay away as a designated survivor in case of a catastrophe at the Capitol and is due to step down soon, was absent from the chamber.

The vice president called for the extension of a new $35 price cap oninsulin for Medicare beneficiaries, to make premiums on health plans permanent, and to impose a minimum tax on billionaires in his speech.

Ms. Huckabee went after him when he was younger. At 40, I am the youngest governor in the country. She said that he was the oldest president in American history. She added: “It is time for a new generation of Republican leadership,” without saying whether that meant her former boss, Mr. Trump, who is 76, should be nominated for a third time.

Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to Mr. Biden and one of his top communications advisers, said the scrimmage between the president and House Republicans on Tuesday night should provide Americans with a more visceral understanding of what the president has been talking about.

The president will get an easy contrast with the House Republican caucus behaving the way they are and signaling strongly that they will continue to behave. The House Republican caucus is giving him a way to put a contrast in between who he is and what the Republicans are trying to accomplish.

Patrick T. Brown: The Politics of Debt and Political Campaigning in the era of the Decent Spending Cuts and Demographic Reforms

The reporters of the Times cover politics. Our journalists are independent observers. Times staff are not allowed to campaign for candidates or campaign for political causes while voting. This includes participating in marches or rallies for a cause, as well as giving money or raising money for a cause.

But Republicans so far have not said how they propose to reduce spending by a large enough amount to achieve their debt reduction goals. There are several Republicans who have proposed ideas, such as making all laws expire after five years, if no one votes to continue them.

Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Washington, DC based Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is also a former senior policy adviser to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. Follow him on Twitter. The views he expresses are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

Bringing Back the Noise: How Trump’s Excess Can Be Avoided in the Age of the Big Bang: How a Senior Leader Can Lose His Role in the Campaign against the Left

The 1918 flu outbreak left millions dead, and affected daily life in ways that are similar to our current coronaviruses epidemic. In popular culture, it vanished almost immediately after it was over. The Americans were ready to make their mark in the roaring ’20s.

In his State of the Union, President Joe Biden offered a forward-looking vision for the future, showcasing his administration’s intent to rebuild America’s supply chain and spur innovation. But no amount of rhetoric could disguise the fact that our political system could be on a collision course to offer up the rematch no one is asking for.

It is still early. But a 2024 presidential election that features another slugfest between two elderly leaders rather than a scrappy fight between up-and-coming politicians with energy and enthusiasm would be doing the nation a disservice.

Republicans who want to take the battle to “woke” institutions and push back against the left’s excesses know that the DeSantis model can produce results at the state level.

Former US Ambassador to the United NationsNikki Haley may face an uncertain path to her nomination but she offers a different set of priorities. And many party operatives will admit that a Trump campaign that looks backward – at the indignities of the pandemic or his false claims about the 2020 election – will risk coming across as detached from the challenges facing working-class Americans.

An age-based argument can backfire, even if a younger candidate tried to push aside a more seasoned candidate. When it came to attacking a candidate’s memory or hearing, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julin Castro found a way that didn’t play well. It is important for a politician to don’t sound like they are trying to diminish the ability of senior citizens to contribute when campaigning against an older opponent.

What Does President Donald Trump Really Tell Us About History? Why Did he and his predecessor create and destroy the infrastructure bill in 2021? A New Look at a Democratic State of the Union

But the fact remains – the incumbent President and his presidential predecessor were alive for the creation of NATO, the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the state of Israel, the first color TV broadcast and other events that all but approximately 5% of Americans only know of from history books.

There is a wisdom and perspective in having seen the long sweep of history. The President and the former president should have the foresight to see the need to change is not ageism, but a recognition of the demands of job and need for new voices and ideas.

Whether that’s a younger Democratic nominee more effectively tapping into discontent over the Dobbs decision’s impact on abortion rights, or a Republican candidate speaking, as a parent of young children, about the need to better protect kids online, a passing of the generational torch will allow for a much-needed shift of focus to fresh challenges.

Editor’s Note: Bill McGowan is the founder and CEO of Clarity Media Group, a global communications coaching firm based in New York. He is the author of “Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time.” Juliana Silva is a strategic communications adviser at Clarity. The authors of this commentary are not the only ones with opinions expressed in this commentary. View more opinion articles on CNN.

That disarming tactic was again on full display during his State of the Union address when he sarcastically told Republicans who voted against the infrastructure bill he signed into law in 2021, yet claimed credit for the jobs it’s bringing to their home districts, “see you at the groundbreaking.”

The answer was yes, thanks to new breed of House Republicans more than willing to create chaos in the absence of former President Donald Trump.

Predicting the 2024 Election: How to Uncover Your Personality with an Activist’s Votering Skills Refreshed

The puzzling question is how a stark contrast of personality can be created for a political opponent just as easily as for the President. It’s a mistake that could cost them in 2024. According to a psychology of voting study, traditionally, voter turnout increases when the electorate is presented with an “angel vs. villain” choice, and high turnout favors Democrats.

But Biden has made a career out of being underestimated. The political skill with which the State of the Union was delivered made one loud statement as the 2024 election season approaches: Underestimate me at your own peril.

That is leading to a focus on events that try to play up the president’s vitality, while trying to strike a balance in the schedule of a man who tends to make more blunders when tired.

Biden’s State of the Union address advisers consider him at his best, from the way he speaks to his off-script sparring with Republicans in the House chamber. The speech was broadcasted on television and was used to lay out for the nation the scale of his accomplishments and vision for the path ahead.

He shouldn’t be seen as being less ambitious than he is because of his age.

The effect was immediate with at least one group watching: quietly anxious Democratic officials. More than a dozen of acknowledged after the fact it was a night that either put to rest or went a long way in assuaging their lingering concerns about the party’s leader.

One Democrats said that Biden went back to the phrase “finish the job” roughly a dozen times.

Though advisers say Biden would keep to the standard of not starting daily campaigning for at least a year, just as President Barack Obama did in 2011, they’re already looking for low impact ways to maximize keeping him in the public eye. It would track and build on the strategies and tactics used in the lead up to the elections, where Biden bypassed a road warrior, rally heavy strategy and tailored events with smaller crowds in mind.

One adviser joked that they did not hear much about the Democrats’ strategy after Election Day last year.

The digital footprint of Biden, the antsy mayors of Congress, as seen by a new White House infrastructure coordinator for the Obama era

Preparing for what they hope will be the most extensive digital effort of a presidential campaign ever and keeping up with the kinds of news-making appearances he’s been doing in and around Washington are among the possible strategies.

Top surrogates deployed at a regular clip would include a roster populated by a younger generation of politicians, people familiar with the matter say, even as one pointed out that given Biden’s age, that’s to some degree an inevitability.

“It’s part of who he is – as much a part as his record of legislative accomplishments in the last two years, as much a part as his empathy and his connection with people,” said a senior Biden adviser.

The adviser went on to spell out a theory of the case Biden’s team believes will outweigh any concerns, no matter how persistent they appear in public polling.

“At the end of the day, people are going to say, ‘Who’s on my side?’” the adviser said. Who is fighting for me? Who is making a material difference in my life?

That’s how Mitch Landrieu, the White House infrastructure coordinator, made the case to the antsy Democratic mayors he joined for a political meeting in January at a hotel a few blocks from the White House.

The mayors looked around uncomfortably, according to two people in the room. They had heard doubts about Biden’s age and he would sometimes run away from home. They were startled to hear it from a White House official.

“But,” Landrieu said, as he started to tick through stats around Covid-19 shots, jobs created, unemployment rates, “there are a whole lot more important numbers out there.”

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Candidate Biden and the Problem of Succession: Reflections on his 1944 Presidential Campaign and a New Look at his 1978 Presidential Campaign

Biden’s age is always brought up in focus groups. Many veer toward assuming he must be ineffective or being puppeteered: “‘brain dead,’ ‘mush’ – ‘dementia’ is a word that comes up all the time,” said one person who observed multiple focus group sessions during campaigns last year.

More than a dozen Democratic operatives and officials told CNN that they are worried that Donald Trump or another younger Republican who could be the nominee, could make a show of seeming more energetic just by. A number of prominent figures in the Democratic Party are privately questioning the president’s ability to keep up an active travel schedule.

Focusing attention on the issue of succession — and spotlighting the strength of the Democratic bench in the process — would be one of the smartest, most persuasive ways of dealing with this dilemma. Franklin D. Roosevelt did it in 1944, and Mr. Biden would do well to do the same. He expressed a preference for certain candidates but turned the choice of his running mate over to the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The top White House aides bristle at the suggestion that the president is a liability, but others within the building are concerned that this may be underplaying concerns of their own friends and family.

Some Democratic operatives are concerned about letting the suspicions cloud their judgment, comparing them to the conspiracy surrounding Hillary Clinton.

The president’s foes are talking about it. It was made out to be senile for Biden to not remember how the classified documents ended up in his office and garage because of the right-wing media coverage.

“They attacked him over age before he beat them in 2020. The White House said that they attacked him because he built the best legislative record in modern history. They did it before he beat them. I don’t know what they think they’re doing. The trend is not good for them. Maybe they forgot?”

Biden advisers argue that most of the people making these types of comments are partisan Republicans and that this is just another example of hyperpolarization in politics. They pointed out that Biden has no physical or mental competence issues after his previous physicals and assessments.

Biden had a team assessment of his gait during his last physical in 2021, aides said, because he has been noticeably stiffened up since he was in office. They concluded it was the result of normal “wear and tear” of his spine.

His energy levels can appear less vigorous on certain days. But they are unequivocal about their view that Biden wouldn’t green light another run if he didn’t think he could do it – and they wouldn’t support one either.

Some of those words and the overall emphasis on Biden as an embodiment of regular and normal life come up often among aides who are starting to think ahead.

They are also quietly reframing a key moment at the end of the 2020 primary campaign, when Biden was endorsed in March 2020 by the much younger Harris, Booker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and described himself “as a bridge” to the next generation.

Many at the time took that to mean a four-year bridge, an implicit one-term promise that acknowledged his age. Advisers point out he’d previously rejected a one-term pledge.

Biden advisers think that the president is an elder statesman that could help the Democrats hold onto the voters that see the party as too far left.

Dozens of aides, administration officials, and members of Congress who have spent time with Biden have toldCNN about how thorough and demanding he is at times, even though he is slower than before.

“There’s a confidence that comes from knowing what you’re doing,” Ted Kaufman, one of Biden’s closest friends and advisers since his first campaign, told CNN late last year.

Why does Biden get frustrated? The frustration that he has overcome his childhood stutter and the frustration it takes to become accustomed to

He can get stuck on or mispronounce names, but that is mostly due to a convergence of trying to get the name correct while still avoiding a block related to the childhood stutter he overcame as a child.

They say that he is the one who constantly adds to his schedule, pushing for photo lines with local politicians and making meetings run over with questions, or that he is the one who makes meetings run over by peppering staff with questions.

One person who has worked with Biden a lot said the energy is higher now than when she first met him.

There is perhaps no better window into the public perception versus private reality advisers try to convey than a 15-hour stretch in Bali, Indonesia, at the Group of 20 meeting last November.

Biden missed the dinner because he was staying in his hotel, which is near the end of the exhausting trip that included his first meeting with the Chinese leader. There were whispers that Biden was too tired to keep going.

Just a few hours later, he was sitting across from national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken trying to head off a spiraling international crisis.

The phone call between Biden and the Polish president about the missile that slammed into Polish territory and killed two people was a sign that Russia had finally stepped up its attacks on Ukraine.

There were calls from the NATO secretary general to his military leadership. Aides discussed an emergency call with G7 and NATO leaders. Biden did not think that was enough.

An hour later, Biden himself walked the 10 leaders who came to the Grand Hyatt through early intelligence that the missile likely was not of Russian origin. Fears of a big confrontation quickly dissipated. The French President and other leaders were told stories from Biden’s Senate days by 30 minutes later.

They quickly shoot down what they see as sneering insinuations, like when reporters ask why the president has a light public schedule on the days back from overseas trips – though that has been standard practice for multiple recent presidents, including Obama. They insist that his midterm travel schedule proves how robust a presence he can be on the road, even though Biden rarely appeared at more than a few events each week through the fall.

Aides laugh at how often his reaction is to run out of his next public event after seeing a news mention of his age. Friends say he’s taken to making sarcastic references to his age, even as he speaks proudly about all he’s been able to accomplish.

In the Dining Room three weeks ago, he pretended to wiggle as he took a knee in front of the crowd to make a joke about the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA title.

“I wanted to get up there and actually give him an arm and help him up, but I didn’t know if I’d get in trouble for that, so I just kinda stood back,” star forward Draymond Green told CNN afterward. It was amazing to see him up and down in that condition at an old age.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/joe-biden-age-question/index.html

Five Things You Should Know About The Cincinnati Mayor, Aftab Pureval and the Brent-Spence Bridge. What Do You Want to Know About Ms. Haley?

Aftab Pureval, the Cincinnati mayor who just turned 40 in September, said a visit from the president last month left him with the impression that Biden has more than enough left in the tank.

Pureval saw a man who laughed hard when the mayor deliberately used a famous Biden interjection – one that contains a four-letter word that starts with F – to describe what a big deal the bipartisan infrastructure money was in helping rebuild the local Brent Spence Bridge.

There were the fist bumps with the crowd at the barbecue spot in town they went to afterward. There was a way the president flashed the Fraternity hand sign when the young man mentioned he was a member.

Age was not an issue for me when I was with him. The president gave the largest grant in our nation’s history to the bridge, Pureval said.

Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador under Mr. Trump, Ms. Haley has called for “generational change” in the party after three disappointing election cycles for Republicans. In the early surveys, she is in the single digits. Here are five things to know about Ms. Haley.

Mike is the US Secretary of State. Mr. amoy makes an imposing resume, including congressman, C.I.A. director and secretary of state. A new memoir allowed him to tour and test out a presidential message. The Kansas City Star said the book is similar to a guy at a bar trying to show his strength. Mr. Pompeo has said that he would decide on a bid “in the next handful of months.”

There are other Republicans. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire are seen as weighing 2024 bids. The field includes Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Liz Cheney, who lost her House seat after helping lead the Capitol riot inquiry.

The End of the First Trump White House: What Do We Really Need to Know About It? The Jean-Pierre Response to the Doctor’s Letter

“The president always says this, which is, ‘Watch me,’” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Thursday before the memo from the doctor was released to the public. He keeps his schedule busy, and if you watch him, you will see that.

If Donald Trump wins a second term, you could see the end of the first Trump White House through this lens. Insider found that 25 percent of the Congress was over 70 last year, up from 8 percent in 2002. Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican and Iowa’s senior senator, won re-election at age 89 last fall. The most powerful and defining congressional leaders of most of our lives are McConnell and Pelosi, who are both in their 80s. The Treasury secretary is 76. Death has changed the ideological balance of the Supreme Court in the past decade.