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Too Old to Be President?
Age discrimination is against the law in the United States of America, but there are some exceptions. Should POTUS be one of them?
You may have been struck, as I was, by the advanced age of five of the candidates for POTUS in 2020. As of Super Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren at 71 and Mike Bloomberg at 78 failed to win significant support within the electorate, so let’s focus on the strongest contenders.
The frontrunners for the Democratic nomination are currently Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden. Sanders is the oldest at 79, Biden a close second at 78. Whichever one becomes the nominee will be running against President Donald Trump, a mere child. (He’ll be 74 in June.)
So far, there has not been significant public outcry over this, but there have been and continue to be rumblings of concern. Sanders recently suffered a heart attack, and both Biden and Trump have been the targets of speculation in the press and on social media about their mental acuity.
If Trump, who surpassed Ronald Reagan as the oldest elected president at age 70, is re-elected, he will complete his term (if he does) at the age of 78. Fair enough, that’s it for Trump, although it’s fair to point out that Reagan eventually succumbed to…