U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg brushed off questions about President Joe Biden’s fitness for office during a recent interview about the pilot shortage.
Buttigieg appeared on Fox News where host Neil Cavuto asked the transportation secretary his opinions on the age limit of 65 for commercial pilots.
Cavuto spoke specifically about the airline worker shortage during the interview, questioning what the transportation chief planned to do about the problem.
“When it comes to pilots I think the retirement age remains 65, should it? Would you be for increasing that to increase the pool of available workers then who could fly these planes that often times they’re begging to find pilots,” Cavuto said.
Buttigieg responded by saying he was more interested in doing more to attract new pilots to the industry than lower the bar on safety.
The former South Bend, Indiana mayor went on to assert his belief that the United States “should be able to have a robust aviation system without watering down our expectations on safety.”
Cavuto cut Buttigieg off, asking if he believed he would be “compromising safety with a pilot older than 65? Because a lot of people say that 65 is the new 55 and we have a president who is almost 80. So what’s the big deal if we went up a few more years?”
Buttigieg laughed off the question, saying, “Look, that regulation is there for safety reasons I haven’t seen any piece of information or data that would suggest that the reasoning has changed and so I’m going to look at other steps that are not affecting safety.”
Watch the video below:
Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg says the 65-year-old retirement age for pilots is for "safety reasons."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 5, 2022
He then chuckles when asked about Biden, who is almost 80. pic.twitter.com/KQYatjLJ1C
The interviewer’s question seemed to resonate with many, some of whom posted responses to the video.
“Time for a constitutional amendment limiting the age of Presidents to 70 when elected. You can’t fly a plane but you can be responsible for a $20t economy?” one Twitter user wrote.
Time for a constitutional amendment limiting the age of Presidents to 70 when elected. You can’t fly a plane but you can be responsible for a $20t economy?
— Reid Ribble (@RepRibble) July 6, 2022
“So, 65 is too old to be in charge of a plane with 350 peoples lives in a pilots (sic) hands but Joe Biden at 79 is safe with a country with 350 million people’s lives in his hands?” another Twitter user said, adding the hashtag, #makeitmakesense.
So, 65 is too old to be in charge of a plane with 350 peoples lives in a pilots hands but Joe Biden at 79 is safe with a country with 350 million people’s lives in his hands? #makeitmakesense
— CM (@njoyzgrl81) July 5, 2022
Former White House physician, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) said in April of this year he believes the president’s cognitive abilities have broken down to the point that it is a “national security issue.”
“I’m not trying to make a diagnosis,” Jackson, who worked under former President Donald Trump, said, according to The Washington Times. “But I think the whole world sees that he’s having some issues. He’s struggling cognitively.”
Jackson’s assertion came months after a November report from the White House. The president’s annual physical exam caused CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta to report that he did not believe Biden was subject to a cognitive ability test during his annual physical exam.
“There’s been a lot of focus on his cognitive abilities, questions raised by opponents and others, and in 2018 the former president [Donald Trump] had a test that measured mental acuity, was that part of today’s test?” host Anderson Cooper asked Gupta, according to Newsweek.
Gupta replied, “It doesn’t seem like it. I read pretty carefully through the doctor’s report and they mention neurological exam, but that was more in terms of testing motor strength and sensation and things like that.
“As far as we know, for President Biden, we didn’t see any kind of test like that performed,” Gupta added.
