INDECISION 2024: ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Yes, Biden and Trump Are Too Old, but That Doesn’t Mean the Presidency Needs an Age Limit.
Yes, these guys are old as fuck, and yes, these guys are the ones we’re going with.
(Update: As of July 22nd 2024, this article is really funny)
As of February 2024, if anyone tells you that the Democrats and Republicans are going to nominate anyone other than Joe Biden and Donald Trump, they’re either not paying attention to the polls, or they’re still getting campaign staffer checks from the humiliation fetishists that still fund Nikki Haley’s campaign.
This November, America is getting ready for the most elderly presidential contest in our young nation’s history, only beating the “second most elderly presidential election” by four years. That election was our last one in 2020, an election that we’re “doing over again,” also between Biden and Trump. By the end of their second term, Donald Trump would be 82, and Joe Biden would be 86, assuming neither man dies before the end of their term(WHICH HAS A NON-ZERO CHANCE OF HAPPENING) or before Americans cast their ballots in November.
Another guy on Substack, Ettingermentum, in his article titled “What If Trump And Biden Both Die: Thinking over the not-that-quite-unthinkable. “said it funnily:
“The current President is older than helicopters and napalm. The former President is older than hedge funds and credit cards. Both are older than the state of Israel.”
There is no question both of these men are extraordinarily old for the most powerful office on the planet; it’s all that the mainstream media has been able to criticize Biden over lately(most don’t talk about real stuff he does wrong in (the Middle East)). However, if you allow me to get on my “moral high horse,” I’d want to argue against the tendency for (political)ageism and that it would be a shame if age became a disqualifying feature for the Government Office.
A lot of discourse surrounding “the appropriate age for holding political office” has been heightened recently, not just because of the election but because of the release earlier this month of Robert Kyoung Hur’s of the U.S. United States Department of Justice’s special counsel report on President Biden’s handling of classified information.
The report described Biden in an devastating way as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who had “diminished faculties in advancing age.” As Biden was addressing the report during a February 8th, 2024, press conference, he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the President of Mexico, and the same month, Trump praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a “great leader of Turkey.”
In Biden’s Defense, Mexico also has pyramids, I guess?
No matter what any other publication will tell you, both men aren’t exactly doing great. The age of both Presidents is an issue and could potentially be THE issue of this election. According to an October 2023 poll by Pew Research Center, most Americans, regardless of political party preference, favor age limits for those holding federal office.
I’m gonna argue against the majority of Americans. We are in exceptional circumstances; Donald Trump was the oldest President ever to be elected into office when he was sworn in during his inauguration in 2017(beating Reagan). And Joe Biden, during his inauguration in 2021, became the oldest President ever to be elected. While the advanced ages and observed cognitive slip-ups of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump do raise legitimate concerns about their individual capacities to serve effectively as President of the United States, these instances should not serve as a basis for instituting age limits for presidential candidates or any other political office. Implementing a blanket age restriction undermines the democratic principles of choice and equality, it disregards the diverse capabilities of many older individuals, and it could very well lead to a slippery slope or, worse, a new legal precedent of discriminatory practices in political candidacy.
The debate over the impact of age on leadership in the 2024 presidential election brings attention to not just the candidates’ physical number of years but their current cognitive abilities and “vigor.” Determining an appropriate age limit is inherently arbitrary. Physical and mental abilities do not decline at the same rate for everyone. While some individuals may experience a decline in certain faculties with age, others maintain high levels of cognitive function and physical health well into their later years. Establishing a one-size-fits-all age limit does not take into account these individual differences, potentially excluding competent individuals from serving based on arbitrary criteria.
For example, if you just go online and watch Sen. Bernie Sanders speak and compare him to how Biden speaks, regardless of whatever your political opinion is, and what you think of either man(I also guess it’s “unwoke” to like Bernie now), Bernie Sanders, who is also of advanced age and is one year older than President Biden, continues to be able to articulate solid and clear viewpoints to the public, and maintain an active role in politics, highlighting the subjective nature of aging. He’s still the damn Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Sanders and many other seniors like Mitt Romney, Chuck Grassley (demons), and Ed Markey(angel) are still ‘sharp.’ Sanders still displays continued engagement and clarity in communication, in contrast with concerns about major cognitive slip-ups from other senior politicians in the Senate, like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is the same age as Sanders. Mental capacity cannot be solely determined by age.
If the argument of the “arbitrary nature of age limits” still isn’t working for you, rather than imposing age limits, a more nuanced approach could involve regular health and cognitive assessments for politicians to ensure they are fit for office. Health assessments could be a more equitable way of ensuring that all politicians, regardless of age, meet the physical and cognitive requirements of their demanding roles. I’m speculating, but I’m sure plenty of politicians under the age of 60 would fail that test, but that’s a whole different kind of article.
Look inward at how we vote and talk about these guys.
At the heart of our kinda busted democratic system is the principle that the electorate should have the freedom to choose their representatives without undue restrictions. Imposing age limits on candidates could easily be seen as undermining this principle by restricting voter choice. Even if you, like millions of Americans, think that Biden and Trump are both lousy and “cognitively impaired,” democracy still thrives on the idea that voters are capable of making informed decisions about who is best suited to represent their interests, regardless of the candidate’s age or anything else about their appearance or character. Despite all of this talk of age being an issue for both candidates, there’s practically no one from Trump’s base who seems to care.
Except from Rebecca Davis O’Brien of NYT:
In a New York Times/Siena College poll of six battleground states, an overwhelming majority of voters said they had serious concerns about Mr. Biden’s age, with 70 percent saying he is too old to be president. Fewer than half of voters have expressed similar misgivings about Mr. Trump.
By setting age limits based on physical years, the system implicitly undermines the electorate’s judgment(however stupid it may be) and autonomy by restricting voting for candidates who otherwise may be qualified and supported by a majority of voters.
You’re not crazy for not wanting a man with access to the second-largest nuclear arsenal to be senile or crazy. While concerns about the ages of presidential candidates like Biden and Trump highlight valid discussions about cognitive abilities and leadership effectiveness, they should not pave the way for age-based restrictions in political candidacy. Limitations like a “presidential age cap” contradict the fundamental principles of democracy(if we still have any) and voter autonomy, potentially sidelining competent individuals based on arbitrary criteria. Instead, embracing alternatives such as comprehensive health and cognitive evaluations, with a commitment to transparency, could work to ensure candidates’ fitness for office.
If you follow me on other websites, as much as I do like shitposting about Kamala Harris valiantly taking the presidency upon the non-zero chance that Biden dies, the function of the Vice Presidency of the United States should be the penultimate answer in easing voters’ fears by providing an “American safety net” regardless of a given presidential candidate’s age or competence. Still, it might be hard for an America stuck with Mike Pence or Kamala Harris to agree with that. It’s not a crime to want the most powerful man on Earth to be sane.
I can’t wait to see what weirdo Trump picks this time.
Another great article, Drew! I love your sense of humor in addressing this topic, and I agree regarding the age limitations being arbitrary.