This strategy is predicated on the assumption that these three propositions are true:
- Biden will be the Democratic nominee.
- Biden’s opponent will be Donald Trump. And
- Biden’s health is better than Trump’s (or at least not worse).
The first two assumptions seem likely true. The third seems plausible, perhaps likely: Biden is a few years older, but he has taken better care of himself.
The proposal is this:
When the two candidates are squared off for the general election, and the Republicans are (predictably) trying to use Biden’s age against him, Biden issues this challenge:
”I propose that both Mr. Trump and I submit to complete physical exams by the same outstanding team of physicians — [he’d submit a list of the most respected medical institutions, such as Mayo Clinic, letting Trump choose which it would be] -- with the agreement that the complete results for both of us will be made immediately public.”
I don’t know if anyone really knows what Trump’s condition is. (We can all remember the various bogus claims about his extraordinary health.) But the Biden team can certainly know, before issuing that challenge, what Biden’s report would be like.
There’s a decent chance that Trump would refuse the challenge. That in itself would be a win for Biden, raising questions about Trump and helping somewhat to defuse concerns about Biden’s age.
If Trump took up the challenge, and the result were more or less a tie, that too would be a win for Biden. It is Biden, who will be 82 on Election Day, for whom the health/age issue is weightier. And so a tie helps defuse that issue. And the Biden team would presumably not issue such a challenge unless they had good reason to know that Biden would at least come out with a report that would reassure the public about his fitness for a second term.
Finally, if Biden’s report is better than Trump’s, the issue of physical fitness for a second term would be switched from a potential liability for Biden to one weighing more heavily on his opponent.