Biden challenges 83-year-old Democrat who called him 'too old' to a push-up contest

Former Vice President Joe Biden issued yet another challenge to an IQ test or push-up contest.

But the challenge isn't to President Trump this time. It's not even to a Republican. It's to an 83-year-old man who showed up to a Biden town hall in Iowa and declared he was "too old" to be president.

The man stood up at Biden's event Thursday and said that he's a "retired farmer" who's "kind of unique because I'm not a Republican." But "you're damn near as old as I am," he said. "I'm 83 and I know damn well I don't have the mental faculties I did." Then, the man got into the business that set Biden off. He described how he believed Democrats' accusations that President Trump "has been messing around in Ukraine," but then said Biden also "sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company ... so you're selling access just like he was."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"You're a damn liar," Biden harshly responded, and questioned the man's suggestion that he had "seen it on TV." "That's why I'm not sedentary, I get up," Biden fired back. Biden then defended his age by saying "let's do push-ups, man, let's take an IQ test." In an apparent slip of the tongue, Biden seemed to call the man "fat," and after the man affirmed he wasn't voting for Biden, Biden said "you're too old to vote for me." Watch the whole exchange below. Kathryn Krawczyk

Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders later tweeted that Biden had said "look, facts," and hadn't called the man "fat."