Cicero said that “no one is so old that he does not think he can live another year”. Although I doubt that Biden or Trump have read De Senectude VII, they both believe they can live not just another year but at least another four-year term, as both aspire to be president of the United States again. The most notable signs of the upcoming presidential contest in the United States are the advanced age of the contenders and the absence of younger politicians to rejuvenate the class American politics.
The Pew Research Center has prepared information on the age of the 187 world leaders whose countries are members of the United Nations. The youngest is Chilean President Gabriel Boric who is 37, the same age as Lady Gaga. The oldest is Cameroonian President Paul Biya who has been in power for 40 years and has already turned 90.
The median (middle value when a data set is ordered from least to greatest) of current leaders is 62 years old. Grouped by decades, most of the current political heads (35%) are in the sixties. 22% in the fifties, 18% in the forties and also in the seventies, like Trump and AMLO. Biden is in the 5% of leaders who are 80 or older.
Despite of Judicial process marching against Trump for “matters of love”, as AMLO jokingly stated, Trump will do everything to be on the ballot. In fact, it is likely that the victimization of which he is subjected is a favorable point for his purpose. For the time being, in accordance with the longstanding American practice of settling things with money, twenty-four hours after the accusation, the Trump-affiliated Republicans (the majority) contributed four million dollars to the cause just to open their mouths.
Biden is about to announce that he is up for re-election, which would make this race a battle of the titans. In a television interview (NBC) he said something strange: he plans to run in the presidential election, but he is not ready to make the announcement yet. The disconcerting thing is to announce what he is planning to do, but not to announce it. He is not a gazapo derived from the evolved age (80), but the reason is again money-money.
It had been speculated that the formal announcement would be made in February, then in April and now they say July. The reason is that this way you will maximize the time to receive donations before you have to declare them publicly. The strength of the campaigns lies in the amount of money they can generate quarterly.
In the two pre-campaigns there are still no proposals, no programs, no announcement of public policies, for the moment the contest is for the money. The proverb does not exist in English, but a free translation of the much-used Mexican saying would be “with the money dancing the dog”.
Biden or Trump seems to be what awaits the United States again, two almost octogenarians to lead millions of young people in a system that has not had the capacity to renew itself. The argument that everyone is the age of her heart is a romantic exit to the inevitable passage of time. Old age leads to decrepitude. Contemporary societies must guarantee security and a dignified life to the elderly, not expect them to be the ones in charge of conducting social life.