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“I woke up and felt good,” Donald Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Arizona, tapping the side of his lectern as he described hospitalization with the coronavirus. “I said, ‘Get me out of here.’ Boom! Superman!”
As the President of the United States mimicked Clark Kent opening his shirt to reveal the Man of Steel’s “S” logo, the crowd chanted, “Superman! Superman! Superman! “The rally ended with the booming loudspeakers of the Village People YMCA:” Young man, there’s no need to feel down … “
Seventy-four years old and clinically obese, Trump seems eager to prove his manhood. He’s fighting an election against a man who is even older: Joe Biden will turn 78 next month. If Biden wins, he will eclipse Trump’s own record as the oldest person to be sworn in as president.
The statistics are mixed in a society that can often seem obsessed with youth. Voters’ thirst for change did not prevent this election from being contested by two septuagenarian white men. But it has fueled the debate about whether the mental and physical costs of old age could affect the decision-making of the person with the nuclear codes.
“I hope there is an age limit,” Jimmy Carter, who at 96 is the oldest president of the United States in history, told an audience in Atlanta last year. “If I were only 80 years old, if I were 15 years younger, I don’t think I could assume the duties that I experienced when I was president. You have to be able to move from one topic to another and focus on each one appropriately and then put them together in a comprehensive way.
Carter was 56 when he was defeated by Ronald Reagan, who at 69 was then the oldest person elected to the presidency. Reagan suffered a mild decline for two periods and was sometimes mocked for memory lapses and self-contradictions. Five years after leaving office, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Aware of the concerns, the Biden campaign released a medical report last December saying that he is a “healthy, vigorous 77-year-old man who is fit to carry out the duties of the presidency successfully.” Trump, for his part, “remains healthy” according to the results of his latest physical, which the White House released in June.
But the president has tried to weaponize the issue. As the elections approach and he sweeps the country at campaign rallies, he makes unsubstantiated claims that “Sleepy Joe” suffers from cognitive decline, senility or even dementia. “He’s gone mentally,” Trump told Fox News. He also tweeted a meme that read “Biden for Resident,” showing the Democrat in a wheelchair sitting among seniors in a nursing home.
Biden responded in kind during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes show last Sunday. “Hey, the same guy who thought the 911 attack was a 7-Eleven attack,” he said. “Are you talking about dementia? All I can say to the American people is watch me, see what I have done, see what I am going to do. Look at me. Compare our physical and mental acuity. I’m happy to have that comparison. “
Critics have suggested that Trump’s crude tactics could be considered insulting by older voters and counterproductive. They also point to examples where the president slanders or uses the wrong word, and an incident where he cautiously walked down a ramp after speaking with West Point military cadets.
Trump’s age came under increased scrutiny earlier this month when he became infected with the coronavirus, which severely affects the elderly. He recovered quickly, but later said in a confusing video message: “We are taking care of our elderly. You are not vulnerable, but they like to say that you are vulnerable. You are the least vulnerable, but because of this, you are vulnerable. I also.”
However, it is Biden who is historically more unusual. The last five Democratic presidents were John F Kennedy (43 years after taking office), Lyndon Johnson (55), Carter (52), Bill Clinton (46) and Barack Obama (47). For Republicans, Trump fits a more familiar pattern.
Wendy Schiller, professor of political science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said: “He was by no means the first ‘major’ candidate for the Republican Party. [Grand Old Party]; Reagan was 69, John McCain 71, and Mitt Romney 65. Democratic candidates have had a younger trend since JFK in 1960, and have only managed to win the presidency after 1964 with candidates under the age of 55.
“The party’s presidential nomination system tends to produce nominees who are older due to the kind of electoral political experience typically required of successful nominees and the network that engages with state party activists over time to win the elections. state primaries. “
The length of the nominees in years raised the stakes in the recent vice presidential debate between Mike Pence, 61, and Kamala Harris, who has since turned 56. Both candidates were asked whether they had discussed the issue of presidential incapacity with their respective nominees; they both avoided giving a direct answer.
Schiller added: “Americans are living longer than ever and in better shape, so Joe Biden at 77 may very well be in better shape than Ronald Reagan at 69. Donald Trump has proven to be a vigorous activist in the field. road in the 74 years.
“However, I think that in the case of Biden, as was the case with John McCain, the choice of vice president carries more weight than if he were younger because voters are taking into account the fact that the vice president could step in to serve as President. “
Trump and Biden are old politicians in American terms, but not in global terms. Winston Churchill was 76 years old when he was re-elected as British Prime Minister in 1951 and the Queen is the world’s oldest head of state at 94. He is followed by Raúl Castro of Cuba with 89, Colville Young of Belize with 87, Cameroonian President Paul Biya at 87 and Lebanese President Michel Aoun at 85, according to Wikipedia, the judges of the United States Supreme Court continue to hold the highest court until death.
Drexel Heard, the youngest black CEO of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, said: “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was 87 years old and I think people still respected her legal mindset and everything she stood for. He still had a few more years left and no one questioned his suitability for the supreme court. “
Heard, 34, added: “I don’t think age was a big factor in this election, but in the downside elections, we are seeing more and more younger candidates across the country running for public office. That’s the silver lining to a lot of those questions, which is, what happens next?
“Joe Biden has always said that he is essentially a transitional president and knows what will come next. That’s part of the reason he chose Senator Harris as his running mate, and certainly why he continues to endorse candidates on the ballot at an earlier age.“
During the last two rounds of the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders, now 79, demonstrated that age is not a barrier to running a strong campaign or exciting young voters. There are still questions about whether Biden can be equally inspiring, but among the voting demographic, there is little doubt that he will crush Trump.
Coby Owens, 25, a civil rights activist from Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, said: “It was a difference between the ideology when it came to young people excited about Bernie and young people excited about Biden’s campaign. But I think at the end of the day, you’re seeing all the youth-led organizations come together and form coalitions for Biden.
“One of the things we know is that regardless of where you stand on politics right now, we have a better chance of getting what we want and what we need for our future with a President Biden and a Vice President Harris rather than a President Trump and Vice President Pence. “
A more striking change is taking place at the other end of the age spectrum. Republicans have led among the elderly by about 10 percentage points in the last four presidential elections. But Covid-19 has hit this group especially hard – about four in five of the Americans killed by the virus are over 65 – and appears to have reduced Trump’s popularity.
The president lags behind among older voters by more than 20 points, according to recent polls by CNN and the Wall Street Journal / NBC News. This change could be critical in states like Arizona and Florida, which have large numbers of retirees. Both campaigns are investing heavily in ads aimed at older voters.
On a recent visit to the retirement community of The Villages in Florida, Trump stated: “Biden’s plan would mean that America’s seniors have no air conditioning in the summer, no heat in the winter, and no electricity during peak hours. . It’s true. “It’s not true.
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