Why the 'ageist' claim that Trump 'has the stamina for the presidency' and Biden doesn’t falls flat

Monday, November 20 marks President Joe Biden's 81st birthday. Supporters of Donald Trump often mock Biden for his age, conveniently overlooking the fact that Trump — who appears to be on track to win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — is 77. Trump is a Baby Boomer, while Biden, born in 1942, is a member of the Silent Generation.

In an article published on November 20, The Atlantic's David A. Graham emphasizes that although the age difference between Biden and Trump isn't great, Biden is more likely to be a target of ageism.

"Donald Trump is an old man," Graham observes. "He's 77 years old. When Trump was born, Harry S. Truman was president, and Perry Como topped the year's pop charts. Betty White hadn't yet started her career in film. Israel and Pakistan didn't exist. Korea was a unified country, and Vietnam was not. The pioneering computer ENIAC was just four months old."

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Graham notes that three of Trump's siblings have died, and that his "political touchstones" are dated — for example, Trump "rails against 'communists' and 'Marxists' like a Cold Warrior of yore." And yet, Graham emphasizes, Biden's age "has received intense, and well-deserved, scrutiny" in a way that Trump's hasn't. Trump, unlike Biden, "gets a pass."

"Next to Biden," Graham observes, "Trump just doesn't seem as old. But he is elderly — less than four years younger than Biden. To the extent that old age is an issue for a presidential contender, it should be an issue for both…. The idea that Trump has the stamina for the presidency but Biden does not has little evidence to back it up — and even if he did, that would be no reason to risk another round of his administration."

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Read David A. Graham's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).