Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey on July 28, 2022 (Image: Shutterstock)
Donald Trump is set to be the oldest president in history if he makes it to the end of his second term, and as a new column from the New York Times argued, he is "giving old people a bad name" as he also continually pushes to be the "worst ever" president in history.
Gail Collins is a longtime opinion contributor for the Times, and in her latest piece from Friday, she mused on Trump's advanced age as he approaches his 80th birthday this year. Noting the "positive side" of presidents in their twilight years, she highlighted the long post-White House career of charitable work by Jimmy Carter, who worked nearly continuously until his death at the age of 100 in 2024. That sort of glowing legacy, she argued, cannot be expected for Trump, as he races to the very bottom of the all-time ranking for presidents.
"In his Presidential Walk of Fame exhibit in the White House, Trump does praise Carter’s after-White House efforts — while dissing his time in office," Collins wrote. "But that Walk of Fame is an excellent example of how at almost 80, Trump is still vigorously competing for the title of Worst Ever."
She continued: "When he isn’t spending his time excoriating his immediate predecessor or renaming buildings after himself or making a deep, deep disaster out of every step of the crisis in Iran, Trump has been raking in a fortune for his family members by connecting them to an estimated $1.4 billion-plus in profits from enterprises ranging from cryptocurrencies to licensing the use of his name. Want to talk a little about whether Trump is going to merge Oldest and Worst? Let’s not. If we focus on that, there’s a grave danger I’ll lead you into a lengthy contemplation of the fact that we’ve still got nearly three more years of the Trump White House. Don’t dwell on it. Really. Stop."
Despite his age, Collins noted Trump's frequent suggestions about running for a third time, something he would have to do, if he was allowed under the Constitution, at the nearly unprecedented age of 83, something which she asserted even right-minded seniors would be horrified by.
"When younger people start shaking with terror, they should be reminded that smart senior citizens are equally horrified by powerful people who refuse to retire at a rational time," she added.
She continued later, sizing up Trump's competition for the dishonor of being the worst ever U.S. president: "Are presidential scholars of the future going to regard Trump as the worst? Below James Buchanan, who failed to stop slavery or the Civil War? Or William Henry Harrison, who rejected arguments that he was too old to run, then died a month after his inauguration, leaving the country in the dreadful hands of John Tyler?"