US President Joe Biden, 80, usually avoids the subject of age, but he touched on it during a fundraiser at a Broadway theater in New York, saying his experience has helped him face some crises, such as the crisis in Ukraine and Covid, reports AFP and news.ro.

“A lot of people seem to be targeting my age,” Biden said. “I understand it, believe me, I know it better than anyone.” He added: “I’m running because democracy is at stake, because democracy is on the ballot again in 2024. And let there be no doubt: Donald Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy.” .

The Democrat added that he would not “bow down” to “dictators” and blamed Trump, whose slogan is Make America Great Again (MAGA), on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Polls show American voters are worried about Biden’s age ahead of a possible rematch next year against Trump, whom he defeated in 2020.

Last week, the influential American columnist David Ignatius of the Washington Post caused a stir when he urged Biden not to run, saying it risked undermining his “greatest achievement” – defeating Trump. Biden, who is visiting the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, would have turned 86 at the end of his second term, and his Republican opponents have consistently targeted that aspect.

Trump, who is 77 and would become the oldest president ever elected if he wins next year, said in an interview that aired Sunday that Biden was not “too old” but that he was “incompetent.”