I know Why Trump Is Dreading His 80th Birthday

Politics admin June 13, 2026 0 Comments

President Donald Trump is not particularly excited about becoming an octogenarian, says his longtime biographer.

Author Michael Wolff said the 79-year-old president’s aides have attempted to discuss messaging around his age, having seen the controversy that enveloped former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, but he claims they have been dismissed by Trump.

“I know that there has been—this is a difficult and awkward discussion inside the Trump circle, this birthday,” Wolff told Inside Trump’s Head co-host Joanna Coles. “I know of one situation in which this was brought up, how to kind of counterprogram against this. And also, against the background of Biden and how that affected his age and the perception of his age, and the fact that they failed to successfully program against that affected his presidency.”

He continued, “So what should they do, and isn’t this worthy of a substantial discussion? Well, Trump completely cut that off. Cut this person dead. No discussion of this. No wanting to go down that path. And, in fact, he now deflects to the 250th birthday of the United States. That’s the birthday that counts. That’s the birthday they should be thinking about. Anything not to have people thinking about his 80th birthday.”

Reached for comment, White House communications director Steven Cheung responded with his boilerplate attack on Wolff: “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of shit and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”

Trump will turn 80 on Sunday, and the White House is marking the big occasion by hosting a bizarre UFC bonanza on the South Lawn.

Earlier this week, Trump invited Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Mehmet Oz to his birthday bash—and acknowledged that he was unhappy about the big 8-0.

“You don’t have to wish me a happy birthday, because I’m not happy about that birthday,” he told Oz, who turned 66 on Wednesday. “It’s a number that I never thought really too much about. It’s not a number I like, but I’m here nonetheless.”

Trump’s previous comments about Biden may help explain his apprehension about getting older. The president has repeatedly mocked the age and mental acuity of his predecessor, who is only three years his senior.

In a lengthy sitdown with The New York Times in January, Trump said he felt like a man in his 30s.

“I feel physically the same. I feel the way I did 40 years ago,” he said, before pivoting to an attack on Biden.

“I think Joe Biden is the worst thing that ever happened to old people,” he said.

As early as 2019, Trump had been calling his predecessor “Sleepy Joe.” Over the years, he has repeatedly zeroed in on Biden’s public gaffes and verbal stumbles, raising questions about his competence to be president.

“He was never the sharpest guy,” he said of Biden last week. “It wasn’t like he was sharp as a tack.”

But now, those same concerns around aging have come to haunt Trump. The Daily Beast has extensively chronicled the aging president’s mental flubs, bruised hands, swollen ankles, and public bouts of drowsiness since the beginning of his second term.

Trump has been nursing concerning bruises on his hands for months, which the White House has consistently attributed to his high-dose aspirin regimen and frequent handshaking.

As for his perpetually swollen ankles, the White House said Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition where veins struggle to push blood back up to the heart.

When it comes to Trump dozing off at public events, however, the White House typically takes a more hostile approach.

Last week, the White House exploded when clips of Trump with his eyes closed at an Oval Office event went viral.

“His eyes are literally open in the clip you posted, you dumba– mouth-breathers,” its Rapid Response page wrote in an X post.

Last month, the same X account fired off about a dozen posts mockingly accusing news anchors and reporters of falling asleep on air in a petty attempt at a clapback. In another instance, the White House offered a bizarre explanation for Trump appearing to sleep during a public event.

“He was blinking, you absolute moron,” they said.