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If President Joe Biden wanted to quickly and calmly dispel any notions that he’s too old and forgetful to serve in a second term, he didn’t do a very good job last Thursday.
Responding to a special counsel report on his mishandling of classified documents — which found that he “willfully” retained and disclosed highly classified documents but also that his actions did not merit charges, and also described him as confused and having “significantly limited” recall of past events — Biden got angry. He also got forgetful, mixing up the president of Egypt as the leader of Mexico.
Heated defensiveness and more confusion don’t exactly clear things up for the American people. Biden and his team might try to explain away each individual instance of forgetfulness (people in depositions or interviews often don’t recall precise details from events that happened years ago, etc.), but it’s hard for them to explain away repeated instances. There is no great scandal in an 81-year-old man aging, but it also raises the clear and necessary question about whether he is up for another round in arguably the most challenging and consequential role in the world.
The same question should, of course, also be applied to the 77-year-old former president looking to win back the presidency. If we as the American public are concerned about Biden’s fitness to serve when he has trouble remembering things, and again we should be asking questions, then we should also be concerned when Donald Trump mixes up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi — and when his every thought seems to be consumed by grievance and retribution for the perceived slights against him.
Age often comes with experience and wisdom, and should be celebrated in society. We celebrate no one, however, if we pretend that age doesn’t eventually catch up with all of us — including, if not especially, our leaders.
If voters are going to at least attempt to take a trip inside Biden’s mind, they should do the same with Trump. We’ll take aging and occasional forgetfulness over aging and vengefulness any day. Biden, for example, doesn’t seem to forget America’s commitment to collective security among NATO allies (and the way it protects us, by the way), while Trump said he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” if a NATO ally fails to meet its financial commitments to the security alliance.
However, we also lament the fact that Americans will be seemingly left with this choice between Biden and Trump again in the first place.
The 2020 presidential debates already looked like 90 minutes of two old men yelling at each other — almost like an especially bad version of a bit starring Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf, performed for the entire country to see. That was four years ago. The angry old men are older and angrier, the discourse is even uglier, and Americans are fed up with it.
This is not simply a question of fitness, but also of representation. America in many ways has become a gerontocracy led by older officials. Biden is the oldest president ever. The median age in Congress has been above the median age of the voting population. It is worth wondering, once again, if our government is truly reflective of the people it represents.
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District shared similar concerns about Biden and Trump in a statement late last week.
“In an ideal world, Biden’s and Trump’s generation already would have passed the torch,” Golden said. “But as it stands, our system will leave any questions about their age and mental acuity to the American people.”
And make no mistake, the people overwhelmingly don’t want a Biden-Trump rematch. Nearly 70 percent in a recent nationwide poll said they were “tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new.” In a different poll, nearly 80 percent (including 69 percent of Democrats) said they believe Biden is too old to effectively serve another four years.
Biden may have been the only one who could beat Trump in the 2020 general election. And, in no small part because of the age-related questions, Biden might be the only one who could lose to Trump in the 2024 general election. Most Americans don’t want a repeat of Biden versus Trump, but that looks like the choice ahead of us.
We’d like to think that such a choice is beneath a great and diverse country. But maybe it’s reflective of where the U.S. stands right now: A country of people who’d rather be entertained than enlightened, too often captivated by big names and loud noises over substance, who would rather own each other in online debates rather than take ownership of the many challenges we face. We have a collective responsibility to address those challenges. Part of how we meet that responsibility is, when possible, actually choosing to elevate the new generation of leaders that we say we want.
