‘Judge his record’: Ron Klain shrugs off questions of Biden’s age and touts ‘wisdom’
Ryan King
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Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain downplayed consternation about his old boss President Joe Biden‘s age.
Pointing to Biden’s record, Klain lauded Biden as an experienced leader who navigated tricky geopolitical terrain amid belligerence from Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged voters to focus on Biden’s record.
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“Judge his record. Look at what he’s put together. With that age comes a lot of experience and a lot of wisdom. There were a lot of world leaders in February of 2022 saying that Vladimir Putin was not going to invade Ukraine. And [Biden] said that he is going to invade Ukraine,” Klain told the New Yorker in a lengthy exit interview.
Klain, who stepped down as Biden’s chief of staff earlier this month following the State of the Union address, served with Biden at various times throughout his career, including as far back as 1986, when he went to work for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was led by Biden at the time.
At 80 years old, Biden is already the oldest president in the history of the United States. He would be 82 at the start of a hypothetical second term in office and 86 by the end of it. Some Democrats, such as former President Jimmy Carter, 98, have cast aspersions on having an octogenarian president.
Focus groups and polls have pegged unease among general voters about Biden’s age already, as well as that of former President Donald Trump, 76, who is running for a second term in 2024. Klain also underscored that Biden has a proven record of defeating Trump.
“There’s every reason to believe that Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Republican Party in 2024,” Klain said. “There’s only one person who’s ever beaten Donald Trump, and his name is Joe Biden. And the people who have doubts about his candidacy better have a damn good answer for who is going to beat Donald Trump.”
Biden is speculated to announce his 2024 plans within the coming weeks. The White House has insisted that he intends on running.
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Klain, who was once in line to serve as chief of staff under President Barack Obama in 2013, also praised the high retention rate of senior staff within the Biden administration.
“Look, this is the first White House I’ve ever been in where we have the exact same Cabinet we started with, except there’ve been a handful of departures on the senior staff. They’ve been kind of personally oriented, like Jen Psaki taking care of her kids and whatnot. No one’s been pushed out,” he said.