America’s Gerontocracy Poses Great Risks
31st January 2020
Ronald Reagan was so far our oldest president. Opponents derided his age and purported lack of attention to governing. Yet President Trump will be 74 in June, a year older than Reagan when he sought reelection in 1984.
Trump’s leading challenger, Joe Biden, is 77. Bernie Sanders is 78, Michael Bloomberg is 77, and Elizabeth Warren is “only” 70, older than Reagan when he was first elected.
President Trump was impeached recently in the House, where “senior“ leadership means just that. Nancy Pelosi, soon to become the oldest House Speaker ever, is 79, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is 80, and Majority Whip James Clyburn is 79. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is 77, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is 69.
The Supreme Court has two even older justices. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, and Stephen Breyer at 81 are members of that small, elite group who are the deciders on many of the major policy issues of our day.