On Wednesday night, MSNBC host Joy Reid suggested that former President Donald Trump surviving an assassination attempt and President Joe Biden contracting COVID-19 are comparably significant indicators of strength due to their advanced ages. The bold comparison comes at a tense time, just days after an attempted assassination on Trump and as Biden tests positive for COVID-19 amidst preparing for a public appearance.

Joy Reid’s comments on her show have ignited a firestorm of criticism. She posited, “These two men are both elderly. Donald Trump is an elderly man who, for whatever reason, was given nine seconds to take an iconic photo op during an active shooter situation. Weird situation, we’ll figure that out one day. But his survival of that and bouncing right back and going right to his convention is being conveyed in the media world as a sign of strength.”

“This current president of the United States is 81 years old and has COVID. Should he be fine in a couple of days? Doesn’t that convey exactly the same thing? That he’s strong enough, older than Trump, to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age.”

“So if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn’t that exactly the same? I mean, it’s not exactly the same. It’s not the same incident, but it’s an elderly man coming through out of an illness. It should.”

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