What's Wrong With Bill Clinton? His Shaky Hands Raise Alarm At 2024 DNC

When Bill Clinton took to the stage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, many were shocked to see how frail he seemed. However, the former president didn't shy away from explaining the reason for it — far from it. In fact, he poked fun at his age several times throughout his speech. 

Right from the start of his address, it was clear that Clinton was significantly frailer than he'd been in his previous DNC speeches. For one, his voice sounded rather hoarse. Sure, that could have been thanks to him singing along with the performers who'd taken to the stage thus far, like Lil John (bc turn down for what?). However, his shaky hands were a dead giveaway that there was more to it. 

Bill Clinton's hands shake does he have Parkinson's? pic.twitter.com/6X7NXiraAA

— mary (@mary89299980) August 22, 2024

The former president hinted at what was really going on just minutes into his speech. As he told the crowd, "Two days ago, I turned 78 — the oldest man in my family for four generations" (via CBS News). In other words, Clinton looks old because he is old, at least by his own family's standards. Plus, it's worth noting that he didn't leave it at that one mention. Later on in his speech, he admitted that he may not even make it to many more conventions. As if to emphasize that, he then mistakenly quipped that he'd first attended back in 1976, before correcting himself to say it was actually 1972. To that, he playfully added, "Lord, I'm getting old."  Hey, at least he's not denying it!

Bill Clinton kept most of his more overt age commentary to himself, but given that Joe Biden's ousting was directly linked to his age, it's not unthinkable that some of what was said was a low-key dig at the outgoing president. In fact, there are a few things that seem to hint at that being the case. 

For starters, there's the fact that Clinton is actually younger than Biden. As such, his continued comments on being old and possibly not having much time felt... well, a little awkward. Then, there's the fact that he poked fun at Donald Trump's age, hinting that the opposition's candidate was too old to be president. Again, Trump may be older than Clinton (by a few months, anyway), but he's still younger than Biden. And then, there were his comments on loving seeing how many young leaders were at the convention. Do the repeated allusions fall into Bill Clinton's shadiest moments? Maybe not, but they're certainly a little questionable. 

All that said, there's also a chance Clinton wanted to alleviate any awkwardness about Biden's age by joking about his own. What's more, Clinton did also praise Biden during his speech, saying, "He healed our sick and put the rest of us back to work, and he strengthened our alliances for peace and security" (via CBS News). That said, something tells us his reaction to Biden dropping out of the 2024 election was probably one of relief.