Former Fox host Geraldo Rivera has said former president Donald Trump could eat alive a frail President Joe Biden on stage.
It comes after a new CBS News poll found voters are more concerned about Biden's age and mental and cognitive health. The survey found only 34 percent of registered voters believe that Biden, 80, would complete a second term if reelected, while 55 percent said the same of 77-year-old Trump.
The White House has hit back at suggestions that Biden is too old to run for re-election. "Eighty is the new 40. Didn't you hear?" White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a press briefing on Friday. Trump himself has said that Biden is not too old to run, but blasted his competency. Newsweek has emailed the White House and a Trump spokesperson for comment.
In an appearance on CNN Tonight on Monday, Rivera said Biden's frailty is Trump's "best weapon."
"It is remarkable to me how frail Biden looks when it is pointed out that he is befuddled about going this direction or that direction," Rivera, 80, told host Laura Coates.
"And Trump, even though he's only three years younger, gets the credit of being more vibrant, more alive," he added.
Rivera said, while there's a chance people will rally around Biden, the president is not going to get any younger. He added: "Even though he's only eight months older than I am, he looks like an old guy."
Coates questioned whether the perception of Biden was partly due to seed planting.
"It wasn't as if his age was a secret when he ran this last time," she said. "The same critiques that happened four years ago were also there, but you have the track record of an accomplishment now. Would that be enough to undermine what some of these polls are suggesting?"
Rivera said he didn't think so. "You know, time is inescapable. It tolls regardless. And four years is a long time in the life of an 80-year-old. I can attest to that. It is. And I'm an 80-year-old looking for a job," he added. "The frailty of the incumbent president is Trump's best weapon."
Trump "bounds onto the stage. He walks up railings without holding onto the rail," Rivera said. "It looks like he could eat Joe Biden on stage. You know, he looks like a different kind of creature."
However, Rivera added that he doesn't think the former president should win a second term. "I think he forfeited the right to be president, Donald Trump, when he fomented the insurrection and he unleashed the rioting of January 6th," he said.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the DOJ and federal agencies for conducting a "witch hunt" against him in the January 6 case. He previously wrote on Truth Social that he "did nothing wrong on Jan 6th" and called the Capitol riot peaceful and patriotic.
Trump is leading the race for the Republican presidential nomination by a wide margin, despite facing 91 charges across four criminal cases; two filed in federal court in Washington and Florida; and two in state courts in New York and Georgia. The cases relate to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss; allegations he mishandled classified documents; and hush money payments made to hide claims of extramarital affairs. He has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases.
The CBS News poll, which had a margin of error 2.1 percent, shows a close race in a Biden-Trump rematch, with 49 percent backing Biden and 50 percent saying they would vote for Trump.
Rivera said the findings were remarkable. "It is extraordinary that Donald Trump has survived all of the primaries and [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and everybody else, and is getting three-fourths of the Republican vote. And, you know, now has surpassed the incumbent president," he added.
"The fact that Trump now leads Biden is a reality that everyone has to come to grips with," Rivera said.
