In 1993, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau stared as feuding neighbors in a small town in the movie Grumpy Old Men. The plot revolved around the rivalry between two elderly men, John Gustafson and Max Goldman, as they vied for the affections of their new neighbor, played by Ann-Margret.
According to Nikki Haley, we’re about to get the sequel, and it’s going to be less funny and more sad, especially for the country.
The New York Times reported:
Two curmudgeonly old rivals, reclusive spendthrifts, are marching toward a showdown that a lot of people really wish wasn’t happening. If that is the plot of a slapstick comedy, it’s also the latest knock from Nikki Haley on former President Donald J. Trump and President Biden as she fights for oxygen ahead of the Republican primary in South Carolina on Feb. 24.
In a new series titled “Grumpy Old Men,” the Haley campaign on Wednesday plans to start unveiling online videos, digital ads and voter emails that will underscore the ways in which Ms. Haley has argued that the two party front-runners are alike. The episodes, with titles like “Stumbling Seniors,” “Basement Buddies” and “Profligate Pols,” take shots at, among other things, her rivals’ signs of mental confusion, their light presence on the campaign trail and their economic policies leading to high inflation.
The push is part of a shift in strategy that Ms. Haley began after the Iowa caucuses, casting Mr. Trump, 77, and Mr. Biden, 81, as belonging to the same bygone era of politician, one she says is deeply at odds with the country’s needs. It also follows her more aggressive posturing toward Mr. Trump as the two head into a heated face-off in South Carolina, the state where she was born and raised, and which she led as governor.
But the series, with its reference to a movie from 1993, could prove a risky bet as she looks to court a Republican base that is largely graying, white and Christian. Polls show her trailing the former president by double digits in her home state. Attacks on Mr. Biden’s age did not play well during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Haley’s hit comes as some MAGA supporters have noted that Trump seems to have a lost a step healthwise. Trump has been taking it slower on the campaign trail this time around compared to the torrid pace of 2016.
During a speech in New Hampshire, the former president appeared to confuse Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi, something that the Biden campaign, dealing with their own senile candidate, was happy to point out.
A deeply confused Trump confuses Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley multiple times: Nikki Haley was in charge on January 6. They don’t want to talk about that pic.twitter.com/f3lhWgAzUw
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) January 20, 2024
New Conservative Post reported that “the public has expressed concerns about both aged presidential candidates. “Three-quarters of voters say they’re concerned about President Joe Biden’s age and mental fitness, while nearly two-thirds have concerns about the multiple trials former President Donald Trump faces, a new national NBC News poll finds, casting a gloomy shadow over the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Yet according to the poll, a combined 74% of registered voters say they have major concerns (59%) or moderate concerns (15%) that Biden, at age 80, doesn’t have the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term.
According to the poll, 62% have either major concerns (52%) or moderate concerns (10%) about Trump facing different criminal and civil trials for alleged wrongdoing, including for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
