One stick won’t stick to Trump – 2024-08-25 07:01:52

Eero Lassila

Concern about the age of the presidential candidates is justified, but the problem of attitude led the discussion towards age discrimination, writes Iltalehti’s foreign editor Eero Lassila.

Today at 9:37

Trump is seen among his supporters as a “ball of energy,” says Republican strategist Douglas Heye. JIM THE BAREFOOT, EPA / AOP

Although the former President of the United States Donald Trump has only been president of the United States for three years Joe Bidenia younger, he has been spared much of the age discrimination that Biden had to endure when he was the Democratic presidential candidate.

If Trump is elected president, he would be 83 years old at the end of his term, i.e. two years older than Biden is currently. At the same time, he would be the oldest sitting president of the United States right after Biden.

Despite his age, Trump’s Teflon has not sunk into ageism, which has largely defined Biden’s presidency and candidacy. The reason for that is that Trump’s supporters have long considered Trump to be “younger” than Biden. According to a recent Marquette Law School Poll, 57 percent think Trump is too old, while the corresponding figure for Biden is 79 percent. Still, the end-of-the-century line-up makes the founding fathers of the United States roll over in their graves.

These 18th century founding fathers wanted to get rid of the old monarchs and move towards democracy, where brisk middle-aged people were elected to political positions of trust. The rest of the politicians were elected governors, in which case the ceremonial nature gave permission for dusting.

The founding fathers feared the worst: The country would be ruled by a person who is cognitively weak and on the verge of dementia. In addition, older rulers were feared to be stubborn, inflexible and reluctant to change. The character traits in question would fight against “experiments required by representative administration”.

However, the worst fears came true. The reason for that is the big men’s blue eyes. The founding fathers did not write into the constitution an upper age limit for applying to be a presidential candidate. They trusted that the political system could screen and, if necessary, defeat “demented” candidates at the ballot box. However, this did not happen, instead the US political system slipped into “elderly rule”, i.e. gerontocracy.

Concern about the age, health, and cognitive abilities of the presidential candidates has been legitimate and appropriate in this election, but its nature has been one-eyed. This is what an American sociologist claims Mauro F. Guillenaccording to which fundamental aspects related to demography, life expectancy and the possibility of cooperation between generations are being forgotten in the discussion.

The United States is an aging society where people are living and staying healthy longer. Thus, working communities will have employees from more generations than ever before. Biden’s term could have served as an example of an administration that unites generations. Instead, the age debate that colored the election was guilty of age discrimination, according to Guillé.

According to the American Psychological Association, age discrimination is indeed one of the last “socially acceptable prejudices”. In a 2018 survey by the American Association for Pensions (AARP), one in four Americans aged 45 or older said they had experienced age discrimination. The ageism experienced by Biden is therefore only the tip of the iceberg.

Even though age is also a challenge for Trump and Biden is deteriorating in the eyes, they are nowhere near the title of the world’s oldest leader. President of Cameroon Paul Blya is 91 years old and still going strong! Maybe age is just a number after all.