The March to Feinsteinland

 

by Pa Rock

Senior Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Donald John Trump was arraigned on a 37-count indictment in a Florida magistrate court for a case that will eventually be tried in the federal court system.  His initial judge in the proceeding will be one whom Trump appointed during his single term as President.  Today that same Donald John Trump, a man who is currently the leading Republican candidate for that party's 2024 presidential nomination, turns seventy-seven years old.

Some argue, and this blogger is among those who do, that Donald Trump is too old to serve another term as President.  He would be seventy-eight at the time of the election in 2024, and, if elected and was able to survive four years, would be eighty-two when ultimately forced out by term limits.

The first defense which is always stood up when talking about the age of politicians is that "age is just a number, and what really matters is a person's health." A snapshot of Trump's physical health is concerning.  He is obese, a fact that cannot be hidden by the enormous jackets and ties that he wears for "slimming" effect.   Three years ago yesterday (when he was still just a lad of seventy-three) Trump had difficulty bringing a water glass to his mouth while he was giving a graduation speech at West Point, and then, moments later, he also had difficulty in walking down a very gradual ramp as he left the stage.

Anyone running for a big-time job like President of the United States is going to claim to be healthy, and they undoubtedly will have sycophant doctors within their orbit who would be willing to promote a bogus health narrative, but anyone - ANYONE - in their seventies or eighties might pass a general health and cognitive abilities test one evening, and the next morning wake-up (like our most senior US Senator) unsure of where they had been for the past couple of months.  (Grandpa was fine on Friday, but over the weekend we had to put him in The Home.)

One way to lessen the danger of a sudden demise in cognitive ability by people charged with carrying around our nuclear codes would be be place an upper age limit on the ability to hold public office.  Yes it's mean, and it's ugly, an it probably is "ageism," whatever the hell that means,  but it also would put a barrier in place that would protect the country from individuals whose  cognitive gears are of an age that they could begin to slip without much warning.  

Of course what is not being said here is that Trump is not the only dinosaur still stumbling through the tarpit of national politics.  The Democrats have their own dinosaurs as well, including Joe Biden, the one who currently occupies the White House.  And while Republican and Democratic leaders can't agree on much, as long as they both are led by elderly individuals, they can agree to not make age a major issue.

And the march to Feinsteinland will continue unimpeded.