This month, the presidential torch will be passed – not to a new generation, but from the oldest man ever to hold the office to the oldest ever elected to it.
Presidents seem to age quickly in the job, and Joe Biden more than most. Few realized how much his abilities had declined before June 27, 2024, when he physically and mentally stumbled through his debate with Donald Trump. All the Republican candidate had to do was stand by and watch his opponent self-destruct.
Ironically, it took one of the oldest leaders of his party, 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi, to convince Biden it was time to pass the torch to his 59-year-old vice president, Kamala Harris, who was 20 years older than Trump’s running mate, JD Vance.
Biden’s deterioration had been exaggerated in the conservative media using “deceptively altered clips” and “misleading camera angles” that were “swiftly debunked,” according to the Columbia Journalism Review. But the signs were there without having to be doctored and distorted. Staff and friends helped cover them up as long as they seemed minor for the self-confessed “gaffe machine,” but that ended with the Atlanta debate.
Biden is not the first. Ronald Reagan began suffering dementia in his second term, by most accounts. In both presidencies, the media began noticing the signs but failed to pay sufficient attention. Other presidents have concealed serious health problems. Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke midway in his second term. His wife was functionally the acting president for the remainder of his presidency.
President-elect Trump is Biden’s junior by less than four years, and his persistent refusal to release any official and impartial medical records raises legitimate questions about his ability to serve. His claims about having “aced” a bogus five-word cognitive test raise more issues about his mental health.
He appears to be having increasing difficulty staying on topic in his speeches, as he wanders off on tangents bouncing from “humor, braggadocio, anecdotes, grievances and grand promises,” the Associated Press reported. He calls his often-incoherent rambling “the weave,” insisting it is his “brilliant” invention to keep listeners “excited.”
THE CONSTITUTION sets a minimum age: 35 for presidents, 30 for the Senate, and 25 for the House. Presidents are term-limited, but there is no mandatory retirement age for the Congress. There are 20 lawmakers aged 80 or older in the new 119th Congress.
The 25th Amendment makes provision for presidents becoming incapacitated but there is nothing for the Congress, which may help explain why it has been called the world’s most exclusive retirement home.
That was spotlighted last month with the revelation that Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), 81, hadn’t shown up for work or cast any votes over the past six months. While her staff hid that with public statements in her name and by continuing to provide constituent services, Granger had been in a memory care facility in Texas.
Her case was concealed but former Sen. Diane Feinstein’s was wide open. She was frail, suffering dementia and other health problems but refused to resign; she died in office in 2023, at 90.
There are many high-functioning octogenarians in Congress, according to veteran observers who point out Reps. Pelosi; Rosa DeLauro, 81; Jan Schakowsky, 80; Steny Hoyer, 85; and Independent Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 83; and Angus King of Maine, 80, who were each just reelected to another six-year term. Oldest of all is Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, 91, the president pro tempore of the Senate and third in line to the presidency.
Far too many have stayed beyond their pull date. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina couldn’t even sign his own name or read the cue cards his staff gave him, but he wasn’t too old to grope women passing by. He finally retired at the age of 100 and died a few months later.
One senior chairman was too feeble to serve but his wife wouldn’t let him retire because she liked being on the A-list for White House and embassy parties. Another congressman knew he was dying but ran for reelection so his widow could get a higher pension.
THERE ARE far too many similar stories, including today, but very little will to act. And I’m just referring to health issues.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, 82, the longtime top Senate Republican, had several incidents involving falls and mental freezes before stepping aside from his leadership post last month – but not from the Senate. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi had memory problems and other issues but continued to chair the Appropriations Committee.
Elected officials should have the moral responsibility to leave when they are no longer able to give their full to the job. That happens, but too rarely.
Staff are usually the first to notice the problem but the last to act. Their jobs, their power, and their careers come first. Granger’s staff knew of her problem but denied it. They continued constituent services but couldn’t vote.
Don’t count on colleagues. “There but for the grace of disclosure go I” is the common attitude. They don’t want to offend friends and colleagues; they don’t want to be rats or ratted out.
The leadership of both parties? They can’t afford to lose a single vote or offend borderline colleagues, especially when margins are so close as they are in today’s Congress. The member may be out of commission, but the seat can still be counted as part of their contingent.
The clerks of the House and Senate are elected by the members and their job is to verify and ensure the accuracy of all the chamber’s actions.
They keep the tally on votes and roll calls and should be tasked with reporting to the public – you know, voters, constituents, the ones who hired the lawmakers in the first place – the length and reason for extended absences (a week or two, for example). Voters have a right to know whether they are being properly represented.
Other culprits in the cover-up are the media, as well as public and special interest groups. They often know much more than they’re willing to share. Reporters admit they dropped the ball on the Granger story, not noticing a senior lawmaker was missing or asking why. How many other stories have they missed – or deliberately ignored?
Term limits are another oft-proposed solution, but would probably require a Constitutional amendment, and the concept has many other flaws, which I will leave to a future column.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and a former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.