First Lady Jill Biden blasted as “ridiculous” GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s call for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75.
When asked if her 80-year-old husband, President Joe Biden, would take such a test, Jill Biden demurred.
“I mean, we haven’t even discussed [it],” she said. “We would never even discuss something like that.”
The Haley campaign did not respond to a request from The Epoch Times seeking her reaction to the first lady’s comments.
The president has not announced his reelection campaign but is expected to do so soon.
In the Feb. 15 speech announcing her run for the White House, Haley, 51, pledged mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75.
“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire,” said Haley. “We’ll have term limits for Congress. And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”
“America is not past our prime,” she added. “It’s just that our politicians are past theirs.”
Jill Biden is not the only public figure to criticize Haley’s call.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Feb. 19, 81-year-old Bernie Sanders, who ran for the White House in 2016 and 2020, called Haley’s vow “absurd.”
“We are fighting racism, we’re fighting sexism, we’re fighting homophobia, I think we should also be fighting ageism. Trust people, look at people and say, you know, this person is competent, this person is not competent,” he added. “There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who ain’t particularly competent. Older people, you know, you look at the individual, I don’t think you make a blanket statement.”
Sanders remarked that those in office should be seen by what they do, not by how old they are.
“Look at what they do, what they believe in. What are they fighting for?” he said. “What does Donald Trump stand for? Do you believe in that? Well, I certainly don’t. What does Joe Biden stand for? What is he doing? Has he accomplished—look at him in that way, not on age.”
Haley, who served under Trump as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, fired back at Sanders.
In virtually all GOP primary polls, Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina between 2011 and 2017, is behind former president Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.). DeSantis has not yet announced his candidacy but is widely expected to do so.
At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference(CPAC) on March 3, Haley reiterated her pledge and expanded it to apply to judges. She also said she would not mind lowering the age requirement.
“Every politician and judge over 75 years old should take a competency test,” she said. “If you want to start at age 50, I’m good with that too.”
