In jab at Trump and Biden, Nikki Haley calls for 'mental competency tests' for politicians over 75

In a not-so-subtle dig at former President Donald Trump and President Biden, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley proposed mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old during Wednesday’s announcement that she was seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire,” Haley, 51, said. “We’ll have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”

Biden is 80 and Trump is 76.

In the lead-up to Wednesday's event, Haley, who was born in Bamberg, S.C., in 1972, made clear that she would attempt to make age a central campaign issue, positing herself as the voice of a new generation and casting the two standard bearers of the Democratic and Republican parties as past their prime.

In her remarks in Charleston, S.C., she repeatedly returned to the subject of age.

“We’re ready. Ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past. And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future,” Haley said.

Yet Trump and Biden both seemed to anticipate attacks from Haley. Moments after Haley concluded her speech, the Trump campaign mailed out their own talking points, including some aimed at older voters, highlighting her past support for former House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to reform Medicare and Social Security.

The Democratic National Committee also hit Haley on the subject of entitlement reform, posting a video clip on Twitter that featured her telling Neil Cavuto of Fox News that in order to shrink the size of the federal government, Washington needed to consider cuts to the popular safety net programs.

“What they need to be doing is looking at entitlements. Look at Social Security, look at Medicaid, look at Medicare, and let’s actually go to the heart of what’s causing government to grow,” Haley said during the 2010 interview.

Numerous recent polls have showed that many Americans are cool to the idea of Biden and Trump running again in 2024. An Insider/Morning Consult poll released in September found that 76% of respondents said Biden was too old to serve in public office, while 57% said the same of Trump. In that same poll, 84% of respondents said that a physical and mental examination should be required before a person is allowed to serve as president.

Whether those concerns will outweigh the significant advantages Biden and Trump have over Haley in terms of name and brand identification among voters remains to be seen.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released last week showed Haley running in third place in a hypothetical field for the GOP primary that was limited to her, Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is just 44 years old. Trump led in that poll with 38% support. DeSantis was in second with 35% and Haley trailed with 11%. In November, Trump declared himself a presidential candidate for the third time. DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy later this spring.