Biden and Trump: IS Age that important?
In an interview on “Morning Joe,” Hillary Clinton was asked what she thought about questions frequently posed about President Biden’s age. Her response:
The questions are legitimate, but the conclusions people draw are off base. I am supporting President Biden and Vice President Harris because of what they’ve gotten done. I’m kind of old fashioned that way. I like to see people tackle big problems, bring people together and try to forge solutions. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m kind of happy that we’re fixing our bridges and our roads and the rest of our infrastructure, and I’m thrilled that we are going to compete with China on advanced manufacturing, and that we’re going to make the transition to clean energy as quickly as we possibly can, plus bring down drug prices. So when people say to me, “Well, he’s old.” Yeah that’s right, but look at what he’s gotten done, and then if that’s not enough for you, look at the alternative—a wrecking crew!
We’ve all heard the myths about aging: that drivers over 70 are a danger to others on the highway, that if you live till 80 you’ll suffer from dementia, that older people can no longer learn new things, and that depression disproportionately afflicts older Americans. Aging experts consistently find that many drivers operate safely into their 90’s, that we can continue to learn into advanced age, that less than 10% of those 65 and older suffer from dementia, and that seniors are generally happier than younger adults. In fact, the research of Duke sociologist Linda George and her collaborators finds that “despite increased rates of disease, disability, and social losses with aging, seniors consistently report higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB), a construct closely related to happiness, than younger adults.”
Think about it: At the signing of the American constitution, the average life expectancy was 38 years, yet our first five presidents (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) served well into their 60’s, nearly three decades beyond the average life expectancy at the time. Today, white males typically live more than 76 years, and those fortunate enough to make it to 80 will, on average, live another seven years, so why shouldn’t we expect to see older presidents and members of Congress? Today eighteen members of Congress are 80 or older, but none has yet broken the record set by the notorious segregationist from South Carolina, Strom Thurman, who served till he was 100.
Biden has already turned 80, and Trump, if elected again, would reach that milestone during the second year of his term. Both have stumbled in front of the cameras. Both have mispronounced words. And Biden is sometimes slow in answering reporters’ questions, but he focuses his answers on the questions asked, and when he offers generalizations, he supports them with evidence.
Trump’s speech, on the other hand, reveals no nuance, no appreciation of the complexity of issues, and seemingly little concern for how his words sound to those other than his ardent supporters. When he ventures off a prepared text, he reveals a very limited vocabulary, and his constant hyperbole and self-flattery ring hollow.
Basically, Biden and Trump speak two separate languages, almost as though they live in two different worlds. Biden’s is one in which Americans must face head on the problems that threaten their nation (the neo-imperialist desires of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the devastating climate change whose effects we can already witness, and the rampant inequality). His is a world in which government can take meaningful action to address these threats.
Trump’s world is dominated by a fierce Hobbesian competition, one in which greed and self-interest grease the engine of our economy. On one hand, he sounds like a typical limited-government conservative: what I earn is mine to keep, and in keeping it, I further the economic enterprise that drives American production. But what separates Trumpian rhetoric from the conservatives he mimics is the absence of any appeal to higher ideals or virtues. For Trump, those who sacrifice themselves for their nation on the battlefield are just “suckers.” Those who work for the good of others are simply naïve.
In 2016, Americans didn’t elect a man as their president. For the first time in history, we chose a brand--the “brilliant” real estate mogul who could drain the bureaucratic swamp in D.C. and build the great border wall to protect Americans from the invading criminal hordes.
Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden threatened to deflate the value of that brand with the label “loser.” Despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, MAGA stalwarts believed the claims of a stolen election. Many GOP leaders promoted the fiction; others simply refused to challenge it. And the rest of us saw a victim-in-chief, the sore loser who called the other team cheaters and blamed the referee for making the wrong call.
What we see in candidate Trump’s 2024 rhetoric is even greater grandiosity, hardened defiance, and the promise of vengeance against those who have criticized all that is Trumpian. At a March 4 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he said, “In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice.’ Today I add, I am your warrior. I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution. I am your retribution.”
Effectively, Trump is proclaiming in biblical terms that justice can only be rendered through him. Either the “Orange Jesus” has become the wrathful god who will smite his critics when he assumes the throne, or he is simply delusional and high on the image of his own invincibility.
Ironically, the oft-repeated trope that Biden is too old to be president may be coming back to bite Trump. In a December 19 Newsweek article, Robert Reich points to “growing evidence of Trump’s dementia and paranoia,” which poses “a potential danger to the future of America — if he’s reelected.”
Maybe this slide into megalomania has something to do with his advanced age. Maybe it’s the desperate act of a man who knows that the only way to save himself from the legal wolves at his door is to win the presidency and pardon himself. Or maybe it’s just one more transformation of the Trump brand from former American President into American Dictator. “Only on Day One,” of course.