During Joe Biden's four years in the Oval Office, Donald Trump and his supporters in right-wing media repeatedly attacked him for his age and claimed that "Sleepy Joe" was mentally unfit for the presidency. MAGA pundits, however, have been ignoring reports that President Trump has fallen asleep during meetings. Progressive radio host David Pakman is now calling out what he described as a blatant double standard in right-wing media coverage.

The scrutiny of Biden's fitness peaked during the 2024 campaign, when questions about his age intensified after his June 2024 debate performance against Trump, and Biden withdrew from the race the following month.

On his Tuesday show, Pakman argued that Trump is showing "exactly" the kind of issues that Republicans spent four years mocking and insulting Biden over. Trump, who was 78 when he was sworn in for a second term in January 2025, is the oldest person inaugurated as president.

Referring to Trump's Monday meeting with a 16-year-old lifeguard in the Oval Office, Pakman said, "Donald Trump was photographed using a cheat sheet, the exact same type of cheat sheet that Joe Biden was using when they said it's proof that he's got dementia. And strangely, Donald Trump's card has not triggered the same diagnosis from Republicans."

Pakman accused right-wing media of intellectual dishonesty and pointed to the stark difference between how Biden and Trump have been covered.

The 42-year-old Buenos Aires native told listeners, "This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia. The pictures would be circled in red. 'Biden needs pictures to know who he's with.' Fox News would be running it continuously, and right-wing influencers would be saying, 'Did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with?'"

Pakman said that a president's use of a "cheat sheet" is "just sort of like protocol," adding that "a card with names and pictures does not prove cognitive decline." Prepared note cards and briefing materials have long been standard practice for presidents of both parties at meetings and public events.

But he argued that if the same kind of "cheat sheet" was treated as evidence of a problem for Biden, then it should be treated the same way for Trump.

"But if it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump," Pakman said. "Right now, this gets to a bigger story, which is that during Biden's presidency, the right treated every glimpse of a note card as a medical emergency. They do not care about being two-faced. I actually think they get off on it. They love that they employ double standards. They say one thing about Biden if they think it will be beneficial to them, and then they just laugh when we go, 'Yeah, but Trump's doing the exact same thing.'"

Pakman also said the same people who criticized former President Barack Obama for golfing have now defended Trump when he plays golf. Trump himself was among Obama's most prominent critics over golf and said during his 2016 campaign that he would have little time for the game if elected.

"These are the very same people who attacked (former President Barack) Obama for golfing when he was president. And now, when Trump golfs, they go, 'Oh, well, but Trump's doing so much, he's doing business on the golf course and all of this stuff,'" he said.