Continuing his recent radio tour, TBOR Action President John Pudner stopped by Birmingham, Alabama to not only discuss Nikki Haley's recently proposed age-based competency test, but also to discuss how this brings term limits to the forefront of the upcoming presidential race as an issue that's gaining momentum with voters and politicians alike across our Republic.
To learn more about TBOR Action's efforts on term limits, please click here.
The following transcript from this interview is presented in its entirety with minor edits:
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Biden, run, term limits, cognitive, president, politician.
SPEAKERS
John Pudner and J.T.
J.T. 00:00
Joining us now is John Pudner, President of the Take Back Our Republic Action and political analyst. John, welcome back, and thanks for being here.
John Pudner 00:08
Thanks for having me!
J.T. 00:09
Well, here we go. I think we've all been concerned about Joe Biden's cognitive skills, or lack thereof, and that we should have the leader of the free world without that type of fumbling and bumbling going on in the White House. Nikki Haley, when she announced that she is going to make a run for the White House, called for politicians over the age of 75 to face mental competency tests. Good idea or bad idea?
John Pudner 00:32
When I first heard it, I thought, "Oh, is that a mistake?" Of course, a quarter of Republican voters are over 65. However, as this played out, I started to look at numbers, and it doesn't look like the majority of Americans think that's a problem. They think Biden and Trump really are too old, even those who support Trump in some cases. It's a tough job to be president, and it was interesting that, and I'm sure she knew this, Biden had his physical yesterday, and the summary report went through everything, but had no mention of whether Biden underwent any cognitive test, which is sometimes given to people of his age. So, her timing actually seems pretty apt here.
J.T. 01:20
Well, I can just hear the conversation now between the tech person who did the cognitive test, and his doctor, "Here, doctor, are the results. Oh my, we won't mention this. Go ahead and put that in the file, take that away." So, are most Americans on board with this, that this is a good idea? I kind of liked the idea
John Pudner 01:39
I didn't see the negative reaction out there, and I tried to talk to a couple people in that age group who didn't seem offended, who said, "Oh, my gosh, I couldn't handle the job of president. That's just too much at this stage in my life." I don't see any big backlash coming on, and they're officially three candidates in the race, we can talk about speculating, but Haley has separated herself from the other two, and I think it was a pretty good move. And, she coupled it with term limits and needed to get rid of permanent politicians. Now, the last one only hits Biden, obviously President Trump was not a politician except for his one run, but she really got a threefer that all ties in, you like it when a few different hits can all be coordinated. When you get term limits, permanent politician, and is he just too old for the job, that's not a bad hit for here
J.T. 02:30
Well, it's a great idea. The actual reality of it all coming true is kind of slim to none, right? I mean, look at the Constitution. There's nothing in there that talks about term limits, so there would have to be an amendment and changes made to the Constitution, and that would mean Congress has to get involved to vote on that and prove it, so I don't think Congress and their members are gonna vote themselves into a corner and vote themselves out with that kind of move. Do you see any potential reality in term limiting?
John Pudner 02:59
I think this is all sizzle, no steak at the moment, because it's fairly political, not something you pursue, and the joke in my years of running campaigns was that my eyes would glaze over when we got to actual policy, so it's not very locked in on how it plays with the electorate, not really if it can be enacted.
J.T. 03:16
Yeah, see my problem with term limits is I like the idea, and I think it's got good principle - whatever position you have, do two terms, and then move on to something else. I'm not saying if you're a senator, that doesn't mean you can't go back and be a governor, or vice versa, but I don't think you sit in one position for more than two terms. The problem with having folks in there that stick around is half of their time in tenure, during that term they're currently serving, is spent on fundraising, and they hate doing it, but it defocuses from the point of what they should be doing based on the voters desires,."Get to Washington, here's what we want fixed." "Well, I'll work on it if I get re-elected." Half of that four-year term, for instance, is based strictly on trying to find some more money for the next go-around.
John Pudner 04:05
That's right. I think term limits really have momentum. It's always been kind of, in-theory, popular, but I think for the reason he just said, a lot of these electeds don't enjoy their jobs anymore now that you have to just fundraise all the time, and there's so much pressure to run for re-election again. I mean, Ron Johnson here in Wisconsin seemed ready to move on, but of course, the pressure was we can lose a Senate seat in the 50/50 Senate, and so there's so much pressure. I want to say we're getting to where some of these guys might be willing to vote for it because they're just worn out, and they can't let down their respective parties by not running, but boy, they'd like to move on. So, I think it's gonna happen at some point in the future here.
J.T. 04:47
All right, I'm gonna get one last thought from you. The reality of Joe Biden running again, I know politically has to say, "Yeah, I'm back," but he is 80 years old, he does have cognitive issues, it doesn't take a brain surgeon, no pun intended, to figure that out, but do you believe that he will actually run again? If you're on his team, do you say that is a great idea, or is he surrounding himself with a bunch of yes people and they're going to run him, no matter what? I mean, you got to think at least his wife is going, "Joe, honey, come on, you've done great. You're 80. Let's go to the lake."
John Pudner 05:22
You know, teams always want to stay in relationship with a president, so no one on the presidential team is normally going to tell you to not run again, people just don't want to give that up, so unfortunately, these guys internally... and it's anyone, I don't care if it's Biden or anyone else, everyone who's relying on him for their importance right now are the same people are going to be advising on whether or not to run, and it's going to be yes from almost everyone. They'll push him. I think he's running again, but I just think that's how it'll play out.
J.T. 05:51
I don't think it's a good idea, that's for sure. John, thank you so much. I appreciate you.