On Wednesday night, Joe Biden told ABC News’s David Muir that yes, he wants to run for re-election in 2024. Plus, he really wants a rematch with Donald Trump. Bring. It. On, says Joe.

“Sure, why would I not run against Donald Trump if he were the nominee? That’d increase the prospect of running.”

So help me, if Joe Biden runs again at the age of almost 82 — and (gulp) wins — then I will have lost any faith I have in the country. We’ll be toast. Destined to be a second-rate nation after China.

But what if there is a rematch between Biden and Trump? Especially since Biden’s approval ratings have taken a nose dive, because of — well, where do I start?

Joe Biden Polling Against Donald Trump

Oh, no problem, says Newsweek. Even if Joe Biden’s numbers have fallen, they’re still well above where Trump was at the end of his first year. After all, Joe is finishing the year at an approval rating of 43% after starting at 57%, whereas Trump began at 45% and ended at 39%.

Apparently Newsweek can’t do math very well. Biden’s approval fell 14 points, but Trump’s fell 6. That’s not exactly a free fall, like Biden’s. And consider that Joe has had the media on his side the entire time, unlike Trump.

Consider, too, that in recent polls of a race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Trump would clean Biden’s clock. In fact, the Real Clear Politics average for a hypothetical race between Trump and Biden, using polls taken between November 30 – December 2, give Trump the edge by 4.2%.

Apparently, despite all his warts, Donald Trump is missed more and more by American voters. And I would venture to say that there’s a lot of disgruntled Biden voters among them.

Credit: tenor.com.

What About His Mental Fitness?

But the biggest issue isn’t how well Biden would fare against Trump. It’s his health. And in his interview with Muir, Biden did say he wants to run again if he’s in “good health.” Like he is now, he insists.

“But look, I’m a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now, if I’m in good health, then in fact, I would run again.”

Hold on — Joe Biden is in good health? Just last month Politico — no right-wing website — reported that only 46% of voters say he’s “mentally fit.” They see things that really worry them.

Like when he called Kamala Harris “President Harris” during a speech at South Carolina State University fall commencement last week.

https://twitter.com/magapolitics2/status/1471885577469534213?s=20

Or when he said he that went to Israel as a liaison to Prime Minister Golda Meir during the Six Day War, when he was really a 25-year-old law student (who was prone to plagiarizing, as well).

During the Six Day War, Biden was a 25 year-old in his second year of law school, where he'd already plagiarized a law review article. https://t.co/b7HNqhcYZf

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) December 2, 2021

Consider, too, that when Joe Biden had a physical examination in March, his physician Kevin O’Connor pronounced him physically fit for his duties. But what O’Connor didn’t tell us is that he performed any cognitive screening or testing, which is something that voters want. In fact, 59% want him to take a cognitive test and release it, according to a McLaughlin & Associates survey.

Joe Biden Has Physical Issues, Too

Remember when this happened in March?

US President Joe Biden Falling Three Times While boarding Air Force One pic.twitter.com/RtLLLkKEPp

— Somto Okonkwo ♊︎ (@General_Somto) March 19, 2021

That was disturbing enough. But have you noticed how Joe Biden often walks like, well, a really old man? He shuffles, or walks stiff-legged. Moreover, even his physician O’Connor admitted that he had concerns about Biden’s “ambulatory gait.”

“The President’s gait appears to be perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it has been in the past.”

Okay, at least O’Connor admitted that. But why is it happening?

Not to worry. O’Connor says it’s probably arthritis in his spine. Or perhaps from that time when Biden slipped when he was trying to pull his dog’s tail as he was getting out of the shower. He broke his foot as a result of that escapade. Or so he said.

I don’t even want to think about what that looked like.

However, Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, isn’t buying those conclusions. In fact, the cause of Biden’s gait may be much more serious.

“I don’t like that they ascribe his gait issues to a broken foot … This is not a fully characterized neurological assessment of somebody with a gait problem, and I want to know why.” 

So do the rest of us, Dr. Siegel.

Now add to that the fact that in 1988, Joe Biden underwent surgery for two cerebral aneurysms, which put him at greater risk for cognitive problems. Plus, he also has atrial fibrillation.

Yet Joe Biden told Muir that if he’s in the health he is now, he’ll run again, at the age of nearly 82. And if he wins a second term, he’ll be 86 when he leaves office. God knows what kind of shape he’ll be in by that point.

Does Joe Biden Inspire Confidence?

Even New York Times columnist Bret Stephens — no fan of Donald Trump — hopes Joe Biden doesn’t run again:

“Do his appearances (including the good ones) inspire strong confidence that the president can go the distance in his current term, to say nothing of the next? No. . .”

“This is not healthy. Not for the president himself, not for the office he holds, not for the Democratic Party, not for the country.”

Yet Joe Biden thinks he’s a healthy guy. And he thinks he can beat Donald Trump in a 2024 repeat matchup.

As the Shrunken Head from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban told Harry on a wild bus ride through London: Fasten your safety belts, clench your buttocks! It’s going be a bumpy ride!

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Featured image: Wikimedia Commons/cropped/adjusted/CC BY-SA 2.0.