Even elderly people in their own Scranton no longer understand Biden: ‘It’s the arrogance of power’

It’s not easy to stop working, John Hutchur knows from experience. At 62, he retired for the first time after a long career as an accountant. “But I quickly got another job, which became a full-time job,” the 84-year-old American says in the coffee corner of the Steamtown shopping center in Scranton. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit in early 2020 that he lost it. “Of course, I was bored, sitting at home all day.”

He no longer needs the money, but has recently started looking for a new job. When it’s not summer vacation, he still drives six disabled children to and from school in a van every day. “It’s almost volunteer work, but it does pay off.”

John Hutchur (84) from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of President Joe Biden: “Of course he can’t get a second term. I think he has dementia or Alzheimer’s.” Photo Merijn de Waal

Like many Americans, Hutchur is shaking his head as President Joe Biden, who was born in 1942 and largely grew up in this graying, former industrial Pennsylvania town, refuses to retire. The calls from within his Democratic Party to abandon his reelection campaign have become deafening. But Biden insists that for now, he is the best option to keep his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump, out of the White House in November.

“Of course he can’t do that anymore,” Hutchur said of a second Biden term, which would end in early 2029, when the president would be 86. “Even in his current condition, he’s not fit enough for it. I’m not a fan of the other option either. But I think he has dementia or Alzheimer’s. Watch the debate: That’s all you need to know.”

Read also

Is Joe Biden Retiring?

Hutchur’s close friend John Sacco, who at 82 is just a few months older than Biden, also struggles at times with what to do with his free time since retiring from his office job. “Usually I go to the mall here, chat a little bit. Or to the park. And chat there.”

I’m not a fan of the other option either. But I think he has dementia or alzheimers.

John Hutchur (84), fellow citizen Biden

However, both octogenarians do not think that Biden’s stubbornness is fueled by the fear of a black hole after his presidency, which he had been striving for for decades but which he only managed to conquer in the winter of his life. “It is the arrogance of power that has crept into him. Such a statement that only he can beat Trump. Come on man!”

It is, says a friend who went along but did not want her name in NRC, “just like with your old father who can no longer drive and to whom you have to say: ‘Dad, just give me the keys.’” Hutchur: “But try to make that clear to him. Old people in particular only become more stubborn when you say something like that to them.”

John Sacco (82) from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of President Joe Biden: “It’s the arrogance of power that has crept into him. Such a statement that only he can beat Trump. Come on, man!” Photo Merijn de Waal

Only Jill can convince him

Biden is a man of habit, they say at Hank’s Hoagies, the sandwich shop in the posh part of Scranton — spacious gardens surrounding Victorian mansions — that the president has frequented for decades. “Whenever he’s in town, he always stops by. And he always orders the Italian,” says owner Tom Owens. A semi-soft white baguette is topped with tomato, iceberg lettuce, Italian meat and a “secret sauce” that definitely includes a lot of mayonnaise.

Owens doesn’t think his most famous core voter should abandon his campaign. “I’m totally behind him. But I’m also a little biased, you know. 100 percent Joe.” He doesn’t think Biden is being treated very well by his party. But above all, he says: “It’s going to be chaos if they actually let him out of the race, because there are so many people who want him out of the race all of a sudden. It’s going to be a big mess.”

Owens is relatively alone in this. A poll after the TV debate showed that two-thirds of Democratic voters would rather tackle Trump with another, younger candidate. And that sentiment seems to be growing now that the former president named a relatively young running mate last week in Senator JD Vance (39) of Ohio.

Hank’s Hoagies sandwich shop in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Photo Angela Weiss / AFP

Varnell Harding (72) usually votes Democratic, but she’s charmed by Vance, the retired computer teacher says as she uses a leaf blower to clear away lawn clippings in her front yard, around the corner from Biden’s regular sandwich shop. “He’s a new face. And he spoke to me.”

Read also

This report from Middletown, Ohio, the industrial city where JD Vance grew up

She advises Democrats to quickly come up with a younger face. “There really is still time.” To convince the president of this, she looks, “as a woman who has also been married for 53 years,” especially to first lady Jill Biden. “Yes, I think that is her job. I know it sounds old-fashioned and that young girls will say: what? But it is really up to Jill.”

I would think that at some point Jill would say, ‘Joe, it’s time for us to do something else’

Varnell Harding (72) fellow Biden citizen

However, she thinks she sees that Jill Biden herself has also become addicted to the White House and power. “I think she actually holds the reins. That she finds it interesting to run things. But my own husband is also getting older and can’t do certain things anymore. So we don’t do those anymore. I would think that at some point Jill would say, ‘Joe, it’s time for us to do something else.’”

First win, then Harris

Mike Kolhap (78) thinks Biden has a completely different reason for not dropping out of the race, he says at Diner Boulevard, a Greek restaurant in Scranton. “I think he wants to win the presidency one more time and then quickly hand it over to Kamala Harris. They also know there that she would never win herself. Never. It would go just as badly for her as Hillary,” he says, referring to the Democratic candidate who lost to Trump in 2016.

Kolhap, a former plumber and veteran, is Trump’s age and wouldn’t even consider leading a world power at his age. “I don’t want to have all that worry.” But he does think Trump can handle it. “He can do four more years. He can’t serve another term. And now he’s got this younger guy, this Vance guy. He’ll be 44 when he takes over. We’re still going to have a young president.”

Share Email the editors