President Joe Biden has finally announced his reelection campaign, meaning he will almost certainly be the Democratic candidate for the 2024 election.
All Biden has to do is beat out challengers Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., so he should be A-OK.
The contest on the Republican side will be less straightforward. Several national figures are running, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and perhaps even former Governor Chris Christie.
But the odds-on favorite to win the Republican ticket in 2024, for the third time in a row, is former President Donald Trump. And if Trump does win, which seems like the most statistically likely outcome at the moment, it would set up a 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump.
More significantly perhaps, a Biden-Trump election would leave Americans with an octogenarian president – whoever wins.
Don’t we have some younger options?
“For a country that likes to pride itself on its youthful vitality,” POLITICO reported, “it now is more likely than not that come November 2024, voters will be left to choose between two men who would be octogenarians while in the nation’s highest office.”
Is there no one younger? Someone who is only, say, 70-years-old?
“It’s one of the great hesitations people have, and it’s not just chronological age, it’s the perceived age, the performance,” Dave Carney, a Republican consultant, said.
The perceived age…the performance…that’s the thing isn’t it. I’ve written a lot here for 19FortyFive in speculation that Biden was in cognitive decline, stating plainly that he was too old for a second term in office.
And I can feel Republicans nodding along in approval every time I write to point out that Biden has already exceeded the life expectancy for an American male. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Trump ain’t no spring chicken either.
Actually, Trump is barely younger than Biden. Trump, too, would be an 80-something-year-old president if reelected. And Trump, like Biden, doesn’t appear to be as sharp or as articulate as he used to be. Does he? I don’t think so; there’s footage of Trump giving interviews in the 70s and 80s and 90s and the guy always seems reasonably articulate; he seems to be tracking. That’s not really the case anymore, not in the same way. Is that a sign of cognitive decline?
I don’t know I’m not qualified to say – but it’s the primary proof of evidence Republicans use when accusing Biden of cognitive decline, so, let’s turn that around and say it’s indicative in Trump’s own decline.
Are there no better options? No one who doesn’t raise questions about their physical and mental acuity? It’s a significant compromise that both candidates are so old. So, so old. Even candidates in their 70s wouldn’t draw so much scrutiny for their age. But 80, although arbitrary, seems like a significant threshold. Maybe because the average American never lives to see 80.
The presidency is commonly understood to be ‘The Most Difficult Job in the World,’ with respect to the consequential nature of the decisions made – and with respect to the toll taken on the office bearer. It’s not a job that the world’s most powerful nation should be entrusting to an 80-something.
MORE: Kamala Harris Is a Disaster
MORE: Joe Biden – Headed For Impeachment?
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
