Former President Bill Clinton spoke with a raspy voice and said he may be unable to attend future Democratic conventions in a Wednesday night speech to delegates.
Former President Bill Clinton spoke with a raspy voice and said he may be unable to attend future Democratic conventions in a Wednesday night speech to delegates — as stunned viewers noted his hands trembling during his remarks.
Clinton, 78, served as a warm-up act for vice presidential nominee Tim Walz — along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — while repeatedly reflecting upon his own mortality.
“I want to say this from the bottom of my heart, I have no idea how many more of these I’ll be able to come to. I started in ’76 and I’ve been everyone since — no, ’72. Lord, I’m getting old,” he said in an at-times extemporaneous 27-minute speech.
“Let’s cut to the chase, I am too old to gild the lily. Two days ago, I turned 78, the oldest man in my family for four generations,” he said.
In a well-received applause line, he added, “and the only personal vanity I want to assert is I’m still younger than Donald Trump,” who turned 78 in June.
Voters watching the Democratic National Convention expressed shock online at Clinton’s grizzled appearance and muted energy.
“Clinton looks way beyond his years. He is speaking slowly, raspy shaky voice… he has aged in every way,” one commentator noted on X.