On Sunday, the U.

S.

President faced increasing pressure regarding his age and mental fitness.

Now that he has exited the race, the former president may face the same criticisms as attention shifts to his cognitive ability and past gaffes.

At 78, Trump is the oldest nominee for president in U.

S.

history, a title he is likely to maintain once the Democrats choose their nominee.

Biden has endorsed the Vice-President to lead the party in the upcoming election, but her nomination is not yet guaranteed.

The decision will be made at the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for August 19-22.

Harris, 59, is the only Democrat so far vying for the nomination.

In bad news for Trump, all the politicians who could challenge Harris are much younger than him.

In fact, most are younger than Harris, including California Governor Gavin Newsom (56), Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (52), and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (51).

If Trump wins the election and takes office on January 20, 2025, he will become the oldest sitting U.

S.

president in history, surpassing Biden by a small margin of five months.

Harris's relative youth could be a significant advantage for the Democratic party.

Instead of being defensive about age, Democrats have the opportunity to turn the tables and use the same attacks Trump launched at Biden.

In January, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley made a prophetic statement while campaigning against Trump in the GOP primary.

'Most Americans do not want a rematch between Biden and Trump,' Haley said at the rally.

'The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.

' Biden's announcement that he was suspending his re-election campaign did not mention age, but his withdrawal came at a time when many questioned if Biden was too old to serve another term.

Concerns were ignited after Biden's debates against Trump, during which he stumbled over his words and appeared confused multiple times.

But Trump, too, has made some embarrassing blunders on the campaign trail over the years and hasn't escaped questions about his mental fitness.

During Trump's first term, he was already fielding questions about his cognitive abilities.

In 2018, Michael Wolff published a book that included quotes from several of Trump's aides, who expressed doubts about his competence.

Trump denied the allegations and allowed his doctor to reveal that he had undergone a cognitive assessment and scored a perfect 30 out of 30.

Trump has continued to reference this assessment to boast about his mental acuity.

(It's important to note that the test is not designed to measure intelligence but to screen for neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and Alzheimer's.

)Just last month, Trump again referenced the assessment and suggested that Biden should be compelled to take a cognitive test.

'He doesn't even know what the word 'inflation' means.

I think he should take a cognitive test like I did,' Trump said in a speech in June.

'Doc Ronny Johnson.

Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately.

' The person Trump was referring to is actually Rep.

Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency.

Over several months in late 2023, Trump seemed to make several gaffes, according to Forbes—three times during a speech on September 15, twice during an October 11 interview with Fox News radio, once during an October 1 rally, and again in November.

In February this year, he appeared to refer to his wife Melania Trump as 'Mercedes.

' During the Republican National Convention—where he accepted the Republican nomination—the former president appeared to ramble and meander through his words.

Critics excoriated the speech as 'so somnambulant and self-absorbed that at times the convention floor felt like a seance guided by a medium speaking in tongues.

'While Democrats couldn't fully seize on these Trump missteps while Biden was campaigning, the floodgates may now be wide open to attack Trump's age.

But it's not just U.

S.

presidents who are getting up there in age.

The 118th U.

S.

Congress under Biden is one of the oldest in U.

S.

history.

Business Insider found that nearly half of the members are in their 70s or 80s.

The increased attention paid to the age of politicians has spurred debate on age limits.

A poll from October 2023 found that 79 percent of Americans support age limits for elected federal officials and 74 percent support limits for Supreme Court justices.