Trump Uses Age In Bizarre Ploy For Pity After Guilty Verdict (Biden, Get Your Screen Record Ready)
After Donald Trump was found guilty in his criminal hush money trial on May 30, 2024, he surely wasn't going to stay quiet about it for long. After making a brief speech to the public following the verdict, he held a press conference at Trump Tower the following day. During his half hour long speech, Trump called the trial "rigged" and a "scam," which was a common refrain throughout the proceedings. While these attacks from the former president were no surprise, he did briefly employ one strategy we rarely hear from him. He reminded us that he's old.
Among the many reasons Trump cited to back his ongoing accusation that the trial was rigged, he asserted that the folks who testified were selected to stack the odds against him. According to The Independent, he claimed that in a previous trial Judge Juan Merchan "destroyed the life of a very good man" who should have been able to testify for Trump. While he never directly named the man in question, Trump was likely referring to the Trump Organization's former Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg. Merchan presided over Weisselberg's tax-fraud trial where he was sentenced to five months in jail in April 2024. In seeking sympathy for Weisselberg, Trump noted, "he's 77 years old," which wasn't entirely correct, and the slip-up led to Trump undermining his own argument.
Donald Trump contradicts himself with age comments
For the record, Donald Trump is 77 years old, and his former CFO Allen Weisselberg, is actually younger than him at 76. Regardless, in his speech, Trump clearly wanted the audience to take pity on Weisselberg for receiving a jail sentence at his age. "He's 77 years old. Now, normally I'd say that's an old guy, but I don't feel 77," Trump said (via YouTube) as he threw his sympathy plea right out the window. "Nobody ever says that about me ... they just don't say that about me, but maybe I'm better off that way." This tangent not only had nothing to do with his point, but also contradicted his sentiment that Weisselberg's sentence was unfair because he's old.
Whether Trump feels 77 years old or not, he is, and that puts him a whopping 22 years older than the median age of the presidents of the United States at the time of their inauguration. However, old age is a common theme heading into the 2024 election. Joe Biden is the oldest president ever elected at 78 and will beat his own record should he win another term; he'll be 82 during the 2025 inauguration. Trump has, of course, not let Biden forget his age over the years, and has often poked fun at him. Yet, it's worth noting that should Trump win the 2025 election, he'll be the same age as Biden was the first time around.