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The nearly 40 minutes that Donald Trump stood on a stage near Philadelphia, cued up a playlist and danced like a crazy uncle at a wedding became a staple for meme-makers, late-night hosts and self-professed haters of the former president light feed. But it also presented his rival with an opportunity – albeit a potentially dangerous one – to keep him out of the White House.

Kamala Harris and her campaign seized on the strange incident. “Trump appears lost, confused and frozen,” the @KamalaHQ account posted on X with a clip from the event. Harris went ahead and shared this post from her own account, adding, “I hope he's okay.” Trump's mental acuity has long been one of those stubborn unknowns — especially given his refusal to release his medical records. Monday's event, which began as a policy-based question-and-answer session with North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and turned into a dance party after two attendees required medical attention, was the latest moment for those murmurs to emerge a roar that could not be ignored.

But there is a risk here, and Democrats would do well to take that risk seriously. Yes, if the 78-year-old Trump wins a second term, he would eventually become the oldest person ever to serve as president. But it's also worth remembering that almost two-thirds of voters this fall are expected to be over 45, and one in four is expected to be 65 or older. It's one thing to strive for someone's potential performance, and it's quite another when it looks like pure ageism. And right now, Harris' approach may anger some voters who see him as more of the latter.

After 81-year-old Joe Biden decided in July that he would not seek another term as president, Democrats clearly saw a potential advantage here. With the 59-year-old Harris leading the party, Democrats no longer harbored prime number skepticism. Instead, one of Biden's most persistent opponents was suddenly shifted to Trump, who is just three years his junior. In contrast, Harris cuts a forceful figure who will make history, has an obvious ability to get under Trump's skin, and has delivered an extraordinary revival of the previously flagging Democratic Party.

But the risk here isn't entirely new to Harris' campaign team in Wilmington, Delaware. Some of them were involved in Barack Obama's 2008 campaign against 71-year-old John McCain. Obama's top strategists in 2008 were crystal clear in their edict: unpredictable And confused were acceptable ways for the campaign to describe McCain, but ancient And Expired were not.

The cryptic undertaking was a constant headache for the McCain team, which openly accused Obama's entourage of ageism. Nevertheless, Obama's campaign continued in coded terms; Both John Kerry and Susan Rice expressed “confusion” to describe McCain. For Obama's entourage, they were unwilling to ignore what they saw as legitimate questions about McCain's ability to do the job simply to appease those who complained badly. (Harris' team also includes pros from Hillary Clinton's 2016 bid, where age was a double-edged sword, as Trump was 70 and she was 69, and she faced more muted rumors about her abilities.)

Obama, of course, was ahead. In this election, 53% of those voters were over 45 years old. According to election surveys, the 45 to 59 age group was evenly split. The only age group McCain favored was the over-60 audience, which he won 51% to 47%. (In both groups, Obama made little progress over Kerry, the 2004 candidate.)

The balancing act is a difficult task that will require Harris' team and their supporters to be extremely careful. In the latest CBS News poll, voters ages 45 to 64 are on Trump's side 53% to 46%. Among voters aged 65 and over, this figure rises to 57 to 42 percent.

Perhaps voters have become numb to Trump's norm-defying and head-scratching behavior. Perhaps her assessment of him is firmly established, regardless of his behavior in the final weeks of the campaign. Maybe actually Trump Is The candidate most Americans would like to see leading the country and his decision to play tunes for a night instead of giving the same long-winded speeches where the voters are. And perhaps many voters have their own experience of ageism and see latent signs of it everywhere they look — perhaps even in a hotly contested presidential campaign.

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