Is Biden too old to serve another term? Let's hope we find out
If I am fortunate enough to live as long as President Joe Biden has lived, with as much mental and physical vigor as he apparently enjoys, I'll shout my birthday from the rooftops. The president, however, was quite reserved about his recent 81st birthday. He acknowledged it with a bit of joking — “I just want you to know it's difficult turning 60,” he told reporters — but if he celebrated, he did so privately.
That's because polls show that the majority of voters are worried that Biden is too old to seek reelection, and he doesn't want to draw more attention to his age. In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, 77% of respondents, including 65% of Democrats, said he is too old for one of the world's toughest jobs. The worries make sense. Biden is the oldest sitting president in American history, and he is already in the age range when physical and mental infirmities pop up suddenly.
Still, Biden is more fit — physically, mentally and intellectually — than his likely rival, former President Donald Trump, who is just 3 ½ years younger. Trump is a rambling, shambling specimen of rhetorical incoherence. Why doesn't his age attract the same negative attention that Biden's does? Only 56% of voters in the same poll said that Trump is too old for the office.
Of course, a substantial minority of Republican voters would vote for Trump if he were in a vegetative state. No matter his corruption, his bigotry, his authoritarianism, Trump is their guy. He has been charged with several crimes, including an attempted coup, but they support him still. Trump nailed it during his first campaign: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?”
But there may be more to it than a dedicated bloc of voters. Some Americans who see Trump as more youthful have confused bluster with vigor, shouting with energy. Trump shouts. A lot. He may be incorrect, incoherent or just lying, but he is committed to his beliefs. For many voters, that translates as the strength to get the job done.
That's too bad, given what Trump's beliefs are. At a recent rally, he told supporters, “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” That commitment to weaponize his authority to target those with whom he disagrees is a commitment to destroy the U.S. Constitution.
At least it was clear what he meant. That's not always the case. He mixes words into salads and makes more verbal gaffes than Biden ever has. He is getting things wrong in the ways that former President Ronald Reagan did before his Alzheimer's was diagnosed.
During a September speech, for example, Trump declared Biden “cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead.” Then, Trump went on to warn that the country was on the verge of World War II. In the same speech, he said that polls showed him leading Barack Obama. He returned to Obama later, saying, “We did it with Obama. We won an election that everybody said couldn't be won.”
Even Trump's Republican rivals have started to make jabs about his age. “This is a different Donald Trump than 2015 and '16 — lost the zip on his fastball,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters.
That has hardly dampened enthusiasm for Trump among his ardent fans. After all, they have long since accepted his verbal gaffes — and bold lies — as part of his appeal. He isn't expected to make sense.
Biden, by contrast, is expected to be presidential in a way Trump never was. Yes, Biden is old. But he still has the mental acuity to push through bipartisan legislation, to negotiate with dictators, to answer difficult questions at press conferences. He has handled crises on the world stage, both Ukraine and the Middle East, with diplomatic dexterity.
Is he too old to serve another term? Let's hope we get the chance to find out.
But there may be more to it than a dedicated bloc of voters.