Dirty old men in the White House.
This morning Donald Trump issued a dumb-ass tweet about a 75-year-old guy who was pushed by a couple of cops, fell, and hit his head. The likelihood that the old coot was an Antifa activist is slim to nil. Trump had no business defending the police in this particular case. So how come he did it? Because it occurred to him and because there was no one around to push back on this bad tweet idea before he implemented it.
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020
Washington DC used to feature a set of “wise men” – yes, mostly men, though in the future it could be wise men and women – like Bernard Baruch, George E. Allen, Clark Clifford, Averell Harriman, Vernon Jordan. Sitting presidents would turn to them for sage advice and to help guide them away from making boneheaded decisions.
But it’s probably easier for a president to turn to someone older than himself as the voice of experience, someone who is knowledgeable in the ways of Washington from previous administrations. Trump doesn’t seem to keep anyone around him for very long who can talk him out of bad ideas. And he’s probably older than any of his advisors.
Trump will turn 74 in a few days. If he is re-elected, he will retire from office in January 2025 at age 78. That may simply be too advanced an age at which to face the slings and arrows of the presidency. Biden is even older, 3½ years older. If Biden is elected, then by the end of his first term (which would almost certainly be his first, last, and only term), he will be 82 years old! A person that old may be so set in his ways that taking advice from anyone becomes difficult.
It’s easy for politicians and academics to recommend constitutional amendments to fix perceived national problems because the odds of amending the Constitution for any reason at all are piss poor. The Constitution specifies the minimum age for a president as thirty-five. But it makes no mention of a maximum age. I suggest that, instead of mandating an upper age limit for presidents through a cumbersome constitutional process, the collective leadership of both parties – once this November’s election is over – announce their intention to only nominate presidential candidates from now on who are in their 40s, 50s, or 60s.