Trump Is Too Damned Old to be President!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I am 75-years old, and this much I know:  I am no longer at the top of my game.  In fact, I am relatively certain that my game peaked somewhere in my forties, or perhaps early fifties. And I strongly suspect that as far as aging and the decline of mental acuity and general health go, I am basically similar to most other elderly individuals.

That's right, I said "elderly."  Seventy-five is elderly, and so is 76, and so is eighty.  When one is elderly their bones are more brittle and tend to break more easily.  (I am currently recovering from my second broken arm in the last three years.)    Also, the minds of old people are more apt to wander - sometimes to galaxies far, far away.  An elderly person can be in seemingly perfect health one evening, and wake up the next morning seriously impaired, physically or mentally.  Sudden onslaughts of medical problems occur all. the time, and they are usually just regarded as circumstances of "life" and not that surprising.  Just wheel Grandpa into the Home and life goes on.

But when those standard medical setbacks occur and the victims are individuals who have clung to positions of power in our society, their maladies can become society's maladies.  Leaders who cling to power for reasons of ego and vanity place those who are being led at unnecessary risk.

Not to speak ill of the dead, and I, for one certainly loved Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but her decision not to leave the Court in a timely manner contributed to the rise of the fascist panel that controls the Judiciary Branch of our government today. And now Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who will be ninety in less than two months and is obviously suffering impairments related to age, has been off of work for a couple of months due to a case of shingles, and her absence is stalling a Democratic President's ability to get literate and competent federal judges appointed to the bench.

It almost seems like age and ego increase in tandem.

But my intent today is to talk about the presidency, and in particular, to discuss why Donald Trump is too old to serve another term in the White House.  Trump will be 77 in less than two months.  If he were to slop into a second term in 2024, he would be 78 at the time of his election and inauguration - and, if he could control his morbid obesity and any other related health issues for four more years, he would leave office at the age of eighty-two.  Trump, like myself and everyone else in their seventies and eighties, has not been at the top of his game for at least a quarter-of-a-century, and he will not become smarter, more mentally alert, healthier, or even more humane if the laurel wreath of power is once again placed atop his highly-lacquered and combed-over head.

Let's run the numbers and get some historical perspective on age and the presidency:

George Washington was our first President.  He took office on April 30th, 1789, at the age of fifty-seven.  As of today, 45 individuals have served as President of the United States (counting Grover Cleveland only one time).  Of those,  11 assumed the office while in their 40's, 22 assumed the office while in their 50's, 10 assumed the office while in their 60's, and only two - the most recent two - took office in their 70's.    (To be absolutely fair, Ronald Reagan was just 17 days shy of his 70th birthday when he was inaugurated.)

Clearly, elderly people serving as President of the United States is a recent phenomenon.

Another way of looking at age as a factor in the presidency is through measures of central tendency.  US Presidents on the day they first assumed the office have ranged in age from 42 to 78, with the mean (average) age being just over 55 years.   The median age, or the central age if they were all listed in a line from oldest to youngest, would also be 55 years, and the mode, or most common age in the range, would be 51 and 54, with five hits each.   The two in their 70's would be obvious outliers.

In an attempt to tie age to effectiveness, I asked ChatGPT to list the five best US Presidents.  After a disclaimer about not possessing any personal opinions or biases,  the Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot said that based on various factors such as their achievements, leadership skills, and impact on the nation, the following are "widely regarded as among the best":  (I added their ages at assuming office following each name in parentheses.)

George Washington        (57)

Abraham Lincoln           (52)              

Franklin D. Roosevelt    (51)

Theodore Roosevelt        (42)

Thomas Jefferson            (57)

Then I asked ChatGPT to list the five worst US Presidents.  Again there was a disclaimer about the AI service not having personal opinions or biases, and then it provided a list of five who are "widely regarded as being among the worst based on various factors such as their failures, controversies, and negative impact on the nation.  They were:

James Buchanan        (65)

Andrew Johnson        (56)

Richard Nixon            (56)

Warren G. Harding    (55)

Franklin Pierce            (48)

Although I am no longer competent to perform statistical analyses (that ability has faded with advanced age), I did find it somewhat supportive that the group of "best" Presidents averaged over four years younger than the group of "worst" Presidents (51.8 years vs 56 years).

There are several reasons why Donald John Trump should never again reside at the White House, some of which are being litigated as I type, but certainly his advanced age is reason enough by itself.   Donald Trump is too damned old to be President, and it goes without saying that anyone who is older than him is also too old to be burdened with the responsibilities of running a nation.

Park those egos and go play golf - for your own health as well as for the health of the nation!